PACIFIC LIFE WHALE EDUCATION KIT - LESSON 3

Students Become Applied Research Scientists

Goals/Objectives:

Students will:

• Develop an appreciation for the process of researching whales as well as an understanding of what researchers do for a living and what sort of life they live.
• Learn some basic research techniques and discover the importance of good observation while performing a scientific study of their own.
• Be able to list three threats to whales.

Teacher Overview:

Students step into the role of researcher to find out some of the things they do and why. After a brief discussion about the importance of accurate observation, students will participate in their own scientific study in which two of their classmates become the subjects. Student groups will compare data and share findings to make an analysis. The class will finish with a discussion about the threats facing whales and how research might help to protect them.

Time: 45-50 minutes
Setting: Indoors
Subjects: Science, Language Arts and Visual Arts
Key Words: Data, Hypothesis, Analysis, Toxic contaminants, Driftnet, Moratorium, Extinction, Callosities

Background Information:

In this lesson students will learn that the basis of scientific study is the same no matter what creature they choose to study. Scientists must not only ask questions to find answers, they must also rely upon careful observation and consistent data collection to draw conclusions.

How to be a Scientist:

Don't accept anything as true until you know the facts! To find an answer or support an idea scientists formulate hypotheses (statements of cause and effect based on prior knowledge that can be tested). From a hypothesis there must be a systematic process of inquiry involving a general pattern that will offer insight into a subject or issue.

This systematic process of inquiry, the scientific method, involves the following steps:

1. Write down the problem, question or issue.
2. Make an educated guess or a hypothesis about the subject to be tested.
3. Decide which factors should be observed to test the hypothesis.
4. Collect data relevant to the question in a checklist form from visual observations.
5. Analyze the data to see if it supports the hypothesis.
6. Draw a conclusion based upon analysis of the data collected. (In its pure form, this scientific method of answering questions is done completely without bias, even though the answer may not be what a scientist was looking for or may lead to further questions.)

So why ask? Knowledge is the basis for understanding, caring and ultimately effecting positive change. This lesson includes both the process of scientific study and the factors threatening whales. We can't begin to help conserve whales and protect their habitats until we understand what whales need and how they behave in their natural environment. From this information, responsible decisions can be made in the best interest of the whales.

There are many ways to collect information about whales using a range of tools from pencil and paper, to higher-tech equipment such as hydrophones (underwater microphones), to computers and special sound-analyzing software. You can study whales from a boat, a land observation point or in the water. You can observe their behavior at the surface and take photographs of distinguishing features like patterns on their flukes. After some time you find that you can identify individuals. It is possible to learn a great deal about the lives of whales even through very simple observations. If you travel in an area where whales congregate, identifying each individual, noting its location and what it's doing, you can eventually learn the entire life history of the population. You will be able to see:

• Who each whale chooses to be with and who it avoids.
• What locations whales prefer.
• How often females have calves.
• How long before the calves are weaned.
• How close the calves stay to their mothers during the period of dependence.
• How fast whales grow.
• When they start mating and having calves of their own.
• How long the gestation period is.
• How often mothers nurse their calves and how long between calves.
• How many calves a mother has in her lifetime.
• What kinds of groups and gangs of whales exist (as well as the ages and sexes that make them up).
• How whale group members spend their time.
• How mothers punish their young.
• How teenage whales behave toward each other and toward adults.
• How whales fend off predators like killer whales.
• How whales play and what they play with.
• How they feed, how they sleep, when they arrive and leave on migrations.
• How long they live.

This observation technique would work with any animal, even people. Suppose you moved into a small, out of the way town where 100 people lived (a town the size of some whale herds). If you had no prior knowledge of the towns people and were unable to speak their language (just as we can't understand the sounds whales make) you could still learn the inhabitants behaviors by employing the observation technique. Using this technique you would carefully note the name of each person you encountered, the place you saw him or her and what he or she was doing. Eventually you would recognize each person and as the years went by and your data piled up, you would eventually know more about this town than any of us will know about the towns we actually live in. Observation is a very powerful technique.

By getting in the water with whales (this requires training and a scientific permit), you can observe how they live, how they have adapted and record and monitor behavior underwater where they spend most of their time. In some places like San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja California, Mexico, gray whales allow people to observe them and seek out boats containing people who will stroke and pet them. Sloughed skin can be collected for genetic analysis during such encounters and analysis of a tiny plug of blubber taken from a wild animal can tell us about levels of toxic contaminants in the whole whale. Even necropsies (autopsies performed on whales' bodies) give us information about whale anatomy and general condition.

Using these and other methods to collect information, scientists can begin to understand how whales have adapted to live in their environment and the factors that affect them. Using this information we have the ability to identify the man-made factors that may be threatening whales and take action based on the facts.

Whales have lived on Earth for about 50 million years. Our earliest human-like ancestors appeared on Earth only around two million years ago, yet in that whisper of time we have made some mistakes that are threatening whales and the environment as a whole. One of the greatest threats to whales and humans alike is pollution. Human garbage, oil, metals, sewage and chemicals affect the entire ecosystem. Everything discarded on land eventually ends up in the ocean, so a long-lasting poison will inevitably create devastation even if it reaches the oceans after many years.

Chemicals in particular pose a serious threat. Humans have produced chemicals that virtually last forever. These are the things that make paint durable and easy to work with, make materials like plastics shiny and flexible and keep our foods free of insects and our lawns free of disease. Chemicals are used in every facet of our lives to make products that we all consume. Unfortunately, many of these chemicals also enter the food chain. These chemicals haven't existed long enough for animals to develop systems that can process them, therefore the toxins accumulate and are then passed from prey to predator. This means that as the toxins move up the food chain, their concentrations are magnified.

Chemical pollutants get into the whales' food and eventually lower the ability of whales to fight infections and the whales become sick. Some pollutants may cause whales to produce deformed calves. Some whales are top order predators. (They eat the big fish that eat the small fish that eat the plankton and so on.) They obtain pollutants that were ingested by all of the animals below them on the food chain. The whales are getting a dose of poison that can be a million times greater than the plankton that has absorbed the pollutants. The pollutants come from industries that release chemicals into the water and air, from farmers who use pesticides on crops and from homeowners and golf courses that use chemicals for weed controls (as well as numerous other sources). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a governmental agency that makes laws to regulate toxic contaminants and it considers many of these contaminants to be potent poisons.

Garbage in the ocean can cause illness, injury and even death to whales. For example, animals can get caught in plastic rings and can swallow and choke on plastic bags. Driftnets and gill nets used by fisherman are also dangerous. These driftnets can be up to fifty miles long! Until recently, about 25,000 miles (the circumference of the earth around the equator) of driftnets were set each night. Whales and other marine mammals swim into them and get caught. The nets are heavy and hold the animals down so they cannot get to the surface to breathe. Driftnets are illegal. Though the practice continues, it is difficult to punish lawbreakers as the oceans are large and hard to patrol.

Some countries continue to hunt and kill whales. In the past, whales were hunted for the rich oil found in their blubber. Edible oil comes from baleen whales and was chiefly used to make margarine, while inedible oil from sperm whales was used as a lubricant. In 1987, a moratorium (or ban) on whaling was instituted by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), a group of people from many countries who decide on laws about whaling. The IWC decided that until the estimated population of each species of whales could be determined, no whales could be killed. This moratorium appears to have been a great help to the whale populations, but there was a loophole, countries could continue commercial whaling by renaming it as scientific whaling. By this ruse, the minke whale continues to be hunted throughout the moratorium. Minkes were not killed in great numbers during the peak whaling years because they are a small baleen whale and were not of much value in comparison to the larger species.

Through a combination of over-whaling, ship strikes and pollution, the slow moving, curious northern right whales have reached a seriously low population number. Only about 350 live off the eastern coast of the United States and Canada. From studying the healthy population of southern right whales, we have learned a lot about how right whales survive. Scientists who study both southern and northern right whales know individual whales by name or number. Right whales can be identified by distinct patterns of white, roughened patches of skin of their heads called callosities. This information is now helping scientists work to save them. For instance, we know that on average right whales only give birth every three years, so protecting their breeding grounds is critical. We know they travel in shipping lanes, so scientists are working with the Coast Guard and shipping companies to try to reduce speed of vessels in specific places at specific times in order to reduce the number of whales getting hit. We know that the genetic makeup of the southern right whales indicates a strong gene pool, meaning that the current population stems from several different whales and therefore problems arising from inbreeding are rare. However, sample analysis of northern right whales have shown that their genetic makeup is not as varied as the southern right whales. This weaker gene pool may be affecting the reproduction of these whales. We have a long way to go before the northern right whale is safe from extinction. We need to know more so that the solutions implemented are the correct ones.

Materials:

• Student Activity Worksheets
• Poster
• Timer
• Pencils

Before Class:

1. Put the whale poster in a prominent position.
2. Make copies of student worksheets.

During Class:

Ask for a show of hands of how many students think it would be fun to go on a boat out into the ocean and study whales. Ask them what they think whale researchers do? How do they think researchers get information? How do researchers find where the whales are? Do researchers get to go in the water and swim with whales? What skills do they think researchers need? Do your students think it's all just fun, swimming with whales, petting them in lagoons, watching them from a boat?

Discuss:

Explain that whale researchers do have many fun aspects to there job but there is more to it. They need to record any information they find, often day and night. There are many variables in the natural world, so it is important to document as many as possible. This requires good observation skills and the ability to write data down carefully in an unbiased way. Careful observation is a basic component of the scientific process. They also need a basic knowledge base to work from.

Observation Activity:

Test the students' observation skills. Stand in the front of the room and ask the students to observe you carefully. Give them only a few seconds and then have them put their heads down on their desks with their eyes closed. Make a few changes in your appearance such as rolling up a sleeve, change a ring to another finger, untie a shoe, etc. Make one change fairly obvious, the other harder to see. Instruct students to observe you and raise their hands when they think they see the two changes you have made. Now it's the students' turn. Have them pair up and observe their partners. Have the students turn around and make two changes. See if they can find their partners' changes. This exercise will get them thinking and observing in the right way for the coming activities.

Research Activity:

Students will engage in an activity demonstrating the fundamentals of field research. In this activity, they will take on the role of researcher, Observing vs. Watching.

1. Explain to the students that they will be learning about what it takes to be a whale researcher through an activity where they will be the research scientists. Scientists rely upon careful observation to draw conclusions about the animals they are studying. No matter what the species of creature, the same rules of observation apply.
2. Divide class into two groups
3. Ask for two volunteers, one girl and one boy. Tell these brave volunteers that they have just agreed to be the guineapigs in your lab today and have them take a seat at the front of the room so that one is in front of each group, facing the students.
4. Pass out data sheets to each student. Point out the list of behaviors on the worksheet that each student researcher may observe in his/her subject.
5. After you start the clock, observers are to make a check in the appropriate column. Each time the subjects engage in one of the actions listed. Students should only record one check for each behavior in each fifteen second interval.
6. Allow about five minutes for observation time. Give students another moment to finish recording their data.
7. When the period of observation has finished, allow the subjects to return to their seats. Get students to compile the number of times their subject engaged in each activity. Compare the findings of each individual group. Combine, compare and total all class data.

From the results, pose the following questions to compare and contrast this activity to field research:

1. What behaviors did each subject engage in most? Is this a surprise?
2. Did their behavior change during the period of study? Why?
3. Are the subjects exhibiting behaviors that they may not be aware of or that you have not noticed before?
4. What behaviors might everyone be displaying without realizing it?
5. Were there differences between the behaviors of the male and female subjects?
6. Why might this be?
7. Might we draw some conclusions about how boys and girls handle stress differently?
8. How was this activity like research? (Data collected by observation, comparing results and drawing conclusions based on observations)
9. Would scientists use just two people for this study or would they sample a larger portion of the population?
10. Did the researchers influence the behavior of the subjects? If so, does this diminish the accuracy of the view the researchers got into the natural behavior of these animals?
11. How else was this activity NOT like research? (More data is needed and a wider sampling, subjects were not able to behave naturally, scientist interference, need more time. (i.e., The WCI has taken 30 years to study right whales in Patagonia, etc.)

Talk about whale research related to last activity. What sort of observations do researchers make about whales? (How many, where, when, what are they doing, breaching, feeding, traveling, singing, weather, etc.)

Teacher Wrap-up:

In the movie, we learned about some of the dangers facing whales. Ask students to name some of these threats (whaling, pollution, fishing nets, ship traffic, other whales, loss of habitat). Follow up with these questions:

• What can we learn about whales that can help us to protect them from these dangers? (Migration patterns, control boat traffic, birth rates and population sizes, how they are affected by pollution)
• What can we do with this information to help protect whales? (Encourage legislation to prevent release of pollutants into the sea, place restrictions on whaling, etc.)