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Lab 12
Marine Mammal and Reptile Movements
Description of the Lab
Students will data from various sources to investigate how scientists try to track
Outline of Investigation
All exercises require:
• Pencil
Exercise 1 – Northern Right Whale
Materials needed:
Data provided
Note: Exercises may be extended or updated by accessing websites listed in lab
Exercise 2 – Loggerhead Sea Turtles
Materials needed:
Exercise 3 – Choose Your Own Animal
Materials needed:
Answers to Questions for Lab 12
Exercise 1 – Northern Right Whale
1. When you followed the movement patterns of individual whales for a number of years was
there a there a pattern, i.e., how would you figure out if the whale was migrating?
If an animal was found in a similar area at similar times of year over a period of years.
2. Why are the sightings so much more common in some places compared to others? Does this
always reflect the biology of the animal?
Sometimes the sightings increase in a calving area or a particularly good feeding spot,
3. What are some of the difficulties that a regulatory agency might face when trying to decide
where to put the boundaries of a conservation area?
4. Was it clear when to designate the time frame for the Seasonal Management Areas?
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5. Optional activity. Download the Whale Alert app to an iPad® or an iPhone® and use the
maps of the managed areas to check the location of Seasonal Management Areas, Mandatory
Reporting Areas. Check to see if the acoustic buoys have picked up any whale activity
recently. (At the time of writing this app is only for iPad® and iPhone® platforms, but in
future it might be available for Android® phones as well.)
Exercise 2 – Loggerhead Sea Turtles
1. Are the loggerheads traveling a route that you expected? Why?
2. What is the normal habitat for a loggerhead turtle?
3. What is the animal’s relative (average) rate of travel?
4. Do you think the estimates of distance traveled and rate of travel were accurate?
Answers will vary; the assumption that the animal is traveling in a straight line is
5. Discuss some of the possible sources of error when working with satellite tracking
data. http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/sat_tags_work.html is a website you
might want to visit before answering this question.
Answer on webpage, e.g., many tags only transmit when exposed to air so if an