The Tale of a Whale and Why It Can Be Told - Smithsonian Education

In this issue’s lesson, students exercise their observation skills to do some of the actual work of marine biologists who study the endangered North Atlantic right whale. They examine photographs taken in the field to identify an individual whale, and then examine a record of sighting of the whale in order to track its movements.

The whale in question is Phoenix, a 45-foot female that is represented as a life-sized model in the new Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The Smithsonian worked with right whale researchers from the New England Aquarium to reproduce details of Phoenix’s individuality, the same details that students look for in the lesson.

The New England Aquarium maintains a database called the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, which contains nearly half a million photographs and vital information on some of the remaining members of the species. The online version of the catalog can serve to deepen the lesson. Go to www.neaq.org <http://www.neaq.org> and click on “Animals and Exhibits” and then “North Atlantic Right Whale.”
 
The online version of the Sant Ocean Hall exhibits is at www.ocean.si.edu <http://www.ocean.si.edu> .

Download "Tale of a Whale (and Why It Can Be Told)" <http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/whale/smithsonian_siyc_fall08.pdf> (PDF).

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/whale/index.html