Happywhale
Happywhale, a global citizen science project, was established in 2015 to record whale sightings and build a better understanding of these magnificent creatures.
Tracking the World's Most Traveled Animal
After many years of leading expeditions to Antarctica and South Georgia Island, Happywhale co-founder Ted Cheeseman noticed the impact that 20th-century commercial whaling had had on local populations. Between 1994 and 2020, Ted saw no large whales and dolphins around South Georgia, the former center of commercial whaling in the South Atlantic. During 2011 Ted noticed a shift, with more sightings and stories of these magnificent animals around South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. Following this rebirth of these beloved animals, Ted co-founded Happywhale along with Ken Southerland.
Now a global organization, Happywhale aims to grow and develop our understanding of whales and dolphins while supporting ongoing efforts to protect global populations. Their focus is simply to make it easy and accessible for all to become Citizen Scientists and get involved through an engaging and innovative platform.
Happywhale uses image recognition software to match images submitted by thousands of Citizen Scientists around the world with those taken in previous encounters with the same animal. Through a carefully created algorithm looking at the shape, pattern, and features in an individual humpback whale’s tail, the platform builds a profile of each individual and how it travels around the world. These profiles are readily available on Happywhale’s website to allow scientists, animal lovers, and enthusiasts to view and build a love for these sea giants.
Through HappyWhale's platform, we have been able to identify the Humpback Whale above as HW-MN1302143
HX Hurtigruten Expeditions & Happywhale
212 Voyages
From the high Arctic to the extreme south of Antarctica and everywhere in between, guests on board our ships are able to spot marine wildlife it migrates and roams the world over.
988 Encounters
Guests on board have been busy spotting a wide variety of marine wildlife. Those on our Antarctica sailings have been the most successful, with over 560 encounters recorded.
504 Individuals
One of the most spotted species is the humpback whale, which makes up over 75% of all individuals sighted, but our guests have also recorded sightings of 35 other species of marine life while on board.
Key Stats
Individuals encountered | 87,572
Furthest distance traveled | 6,997 mi
Longest time between sightings | 43 Years
Recorded sightings | 208,500
Most encountered species | humpback whales (238,883)
*Correct as of March 2023
Meet Flame
Flame (Juneau), a female humpback whale, is currently the most sighted whale on Happywhale. First spotted in July 2004, Flame has since been sighted 356 more times between Alaska and Honolulu, Hawaii. In the 18 years since she was first seen in Alaska, she is known to have given birth to at least six calves, with the most recent being in 2022.
Not Just Whales
Since starting in 2015, Happywhale has received thousands of images of whales in all the corners of the globe. However, they quickly began to get images of a whole host of different marine life, including dolphins, porpoises, and even seals. Knowing the importance of this data to scientists around the world, they adapted the platform to build profiles on a wide range of other marine wildlife.
