WHALE TRUST MAUI

Conducting, Promoting and Supporting Whale Research and Education in Maui, Hawai‘i

Humpback Chronicles

Humpback Chronicles, Episode 32

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Whale Trust Research Photographer Flip Nicklin hosts a weekly talk story about humpback whales and the history of whale research.

This week Flip talks with Ted Cheeseman, Co-Founder and CEO of Happywhale. Happywhale is a citizen science and research collaboration web platform that uses automated image recognition to identify individual humpback whales and has cataloged over 124,000 whale encounters. Upload your photo and find out where your whale has been and where it goes.

Click here to visit happywhale.com

Humpback Chronicles, Episode 6

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Whale Trust Research Photographer Flip Nicklin hosts a weekly talk story about humpback whales and the history of whale research. In this week’s episode, Flip shares some of his story and talks about many of the people who worked in whale research in the early days on Maui (1979-1981) and who were a part of the early making of Whale Trust.

Send your questions to humpbacks@whaletrust.org!

Humpback Chronicles, Episode 5

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In this week’s episode, Flip is joined by Whale Trust Research Assistant Haley Robb to talk about Whale Trust’s female behavior research and the 2020 research season we are calling, “The Year of the Calf.” You won’t want to miss the special update at the end! Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Whale Trust.

Send your questions to humpbacks@whaletrust.org!

Humpback Chronicles, Episode 4

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Whale Trust Research Photographer Flip Nicklin hosts a weekly talk story about humpback whales and the history of whale research. In this week’s episode, Flip talks about the Whale Trust team, the people we worked with during the 2020 season, and the people who make our work possible. Mahalo to all of our partners and friends around the world for being a part of our ohana, and for believing in our mission.

    Send your questions to humpbacks@whaletrust.org!

    Humpback Chronicles, Episode 2

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    Humpback Whales, Episode 2
    Whale Trust Research Photographer Flip Nicklin hosts a weekly talk story about humpback whales and the history of whale research. In this week’s episode, Flip responds to a viewer’s question, sharing the story of his father, Chuck Nicklin, and an entangled whale.

    Send your questions to humpbacks@whaletrust.org!

    Songs of the Humpback Whale + Earth Day 

    Almost 50 years ago, Roger Payne and Scott McVay published a paper about humpback whale song in the journal Science (September 1971). Payne had first introduced humpback whale song to the world the year before with a vinyl record called “Songs of the Humpback Whale.” The album was released within months of the newly declared Earth Day. Humpback whales became a symbol of conservation efforts around the world, including the Save the Whales campaigns of the time. Their songs became one of the forces that led to the landmark environmental and conservation successes of the 1970s and 80s. 

    Whale song ignited our collective imagination. We became aware of a society with complex and mysterious communications – beyond our own. Humpback whale song revealed just how little we knew about our ocean planet.

    With nearly fifty years of research since the publication of that first paper, we’re still trying to figure out why they sing and their song still captivates us. For us, Earth Day is every day. Cracking the code around humpback whale song has been the cornerstone of our research since we began as an organization.

    We are committed to helping uncover these mysteries so that we can better understand and protect this planet — for all of us. Happy 50th Earth Day!

    SHARE YOUR STORY
    When did you hear humpback whale song for the first time? Send your story to humpbacks@whaletrust.org. We would love to hear from you!

    Born Wild: The Next Generation
     In early March, the Whale Trust research team worked as field consultants with Brian Skerry from National Geographic and a team from ABC to film an Earth Day special featuring humpbacks in Hawaii. The program, “Born Wild: The Next Generation,” premiers tonight at 8/7c on National Geographic. Watch the preview below and tune in tonight!