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We're at COP28 to Save the Whale, Save the World.

We’re at COP28 to save the whale, save the world

Ed Goodall Ed is WDC's head of intergovernmental engagement. He meets with world leaders to...
Gray whales from drone.

We’re taking steps to uncover the mysteries of whales

Vicki James Vicki is WDC's protected areas coordinator, she helps to create safe ocean spaces...
We must protect our non-human allies. Image: Tom Brakefield, aurore murguet, johan63

We’re urging governments to protect all of our climate heroes – CITES

Katie Hunter Katie supports WDC's engagement in intergovernmental conversations and is working to end captivity...
The Natütama Foundation are dedicated to protecting endangered river dolphins. Image: Natutama

Guardians of the Amazon: protecting the endangered river dolphins

Ali Wood Ali is WDC's education projects coordinator. She is the editor of Splash! and KIDZONE,...
Amazon river dolphins. Image: Fernando Trujillo/Fundacion Omacha

Amazon tragedy as endangered river dolphins die in hot water

Ali Wood Ali is WDC's education projects coordinator. She is the editor of Splash! and KIDZONE,...
Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin © Mike Bossley/WDC

WDC in Japan – Part 3: Restoring freedom to dolphins in South Korea

Katrin Matthes Katrin is WDC's communications and campaigns officer for policy & communication in Germany...
Wintery scene in Iceland

Seeking sanctuary – Iceland’s complex relationship with whales

Hayley Flanagan Hayley is WDC's engagement officer, specialising in creating brilliant content for our website...
Whaling ship Hvalur 8 arrives at the whaling station with two fin whales

A summer of hope and heartbreak for whales in Icelandic waters

Luke McMillan Luke is WDC's Head of hunting and captivity. Now that the 2023 whaling season...

First few weeks as an intern

Written By: Stephanie Wrobel

It’s been a bit over two weeks now that I’ve been interning with WDC and so much has happened that it feels like it should be a lot longer. Before I came here I’d never seen humpback whales before, but due to studying in Australia I guess I always had a picture of the Pacific humpback whales in my head. I quickly learned how many differences there are between the populations in the Atlantic and Pacific such as the different flipper coloration or the fact that only the population here shows the kick-feeding behavior.

After just a couple of days learning all the basics in the office I was lucky enough to go out on the Hyannis Whale Watcher, a Whale SENSE participating company, and see humpback whales for the first time. It definitely exceeded the expectation I had for the first trip. Not only did I get to see several different individuals on that first day but on one sighting we saw a humpback whale named Glostick and her calf. While that alone would have already been amazing, the calf was very playful and started breaching and coming close to the boat. Needless to say, that I was as excited as all the visitors on the boat. Later that day I also got to see Dyad open-mouth feeding and kick-feeding. While we “only” saw about six different humpbacks, some finbacks and a couple minke whales that day, it was enough to sometimes let me forget that I was there to collect data not to simply admire those beautiful animals. 

humpback whale calf breaching

Since that first day I’ve been out on the boat a few more times and I can’t believe how different every day can be. Last Friday was a very exciting day as we saw Mudskipper with her new calf for the first time. For a while we weren’t sure who it was as Mudskipper apparently does not like to show the underside of her fluke (where the unique pigment pattern is), and it seems she’s teaching her calf the same habit. So while we mainly saw the same 3-4 humpback whales over the last weekend (Freckles, Mogul, Mudskipper and her calf) it was unbelievable how active the finback whales have been. There were a lot of bait patches around and on several occasions we found ourselves surrounded by lunge-feeding finback whales. It is such an amazing sight to see those whales feeding and really makes you appreciate them even more.

There have been plenty of days that I didn’t spend on the boat though and I learned several different things about what else is done, besides the data collection. In my second week I had the pleasure of meeting Delilah, the life size inflatable North Atlantic right whale, when Monica gave a talk for younger kids at the library here in Plymouth. It was great to see how many kids are still so excited and interested about whales. Interacting with the people there and at the boat is always really interesting and a lot of fun, as it’s not only great to share what I know with them but also often prompts me to look up questions that I wasn’t able to answer as fully as I would have liked to, making me learn something new every few days.