Humpback Whale Research Programs



Fluke Matching Volunteer Program

TDI's archival catalog of identification photographs
of humpback whales spans over three decades and includes over 22,000 observations of over 5,000 individual humpbacks. This archive is a rich resource for investigating the behavior and biology of Hawaii's humpback whales. TDI volunteers will have a unique opportunity to work alongside one of our researchers to help uncover the life histories of individual humpback whales by matching photographs of their tail flukes (the "finger print" of a humpback) to our digitized archival catalog.

Learn more......


Short-term participant program: Studying Hawaii's Humpbacks

(No program dates available at this time)

Our program, "Studying Hawaii's Humpbacks" is designed to give you the unique opportunity of working alongside TDI researchers in the field under special Federal and State permits, studying humpback whales during the winter months in their Hawaiian breeding and calving grounds.



As a participant, you help sight, track, and record the behavior and identities of the whales from our research vessels, help map sighted pods from our elevated shore station and uncover life histories of individual whales by matching their photographs to our archival catalog.