Genetic tagging of humpback whales

摘要: The ability to recognize individual animals has substantially increased our knowledge of the biology and behaviour many taxa1. However, not all species lend themselves this approach, either because insufficient phenotypic variation or tag attachment is feasible. use genetic markers (‘tags’) represents a viable alternative traditional methods recognition, as they are permanent exist in individuals. We tested primary means identifying individuals study humpback whales North Atlantic Ocean. Analysis six microsatellite loci2,3 among 3,060 skin samples collected throughout ocean allowed unequivocal identification 692 ‘recaptures’, identified by their genotype, revealed local migratory movements up 10,000 km, limited exchange summer feeding grounds, mixing winter breeding areas, also first estimates animal abundance based solely on genotypic data. Our demonstrates that tagging only feasible, but generates data (for example, sex) can be valuable when interpreting results experiments.