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Right Whale Family Trees

The North Atlantic right whale is one of the worlds most endangered and best-studied large whales.  By combining 25 years of photographic, behavioral and genetic data, we have been able to start reconstructing this species’ family tree through the use of a human genealogy program called Family Tree Maker (Version 11 ã 2003 MyFamily.com, Inc.).  Family trees have been produced using 2 main sources of data: 1. Mother/calf associations made over the past 25 years by photo-identification techniques described in this web site and 2. Genetic profiles compiled by the Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensic Center of offspring, known mothers, and males of reproductive age used to draw inferences about paternity. 

This program allows you to view genealogical information in a number of ways, however, descendent trees give the best overall picture of a particular right whale family. 

Below are links to 4 descendent trees.  Males and females in these trees aren’t depicted as the classical squares and circles, rather males are represented by blue squares and females pink.  Individuals of unknown sex are represented by yellow squares.  Double lines indicate paternities. 

Kleenex

(Catalog No. 1142)
Kleenex was first identified in 1977 with a calf. Since then she has had a total of 7 calves (of which the fathers are known for 2), 3 “grand children” (of which the father is known for 1), and 2 “great grand children.”  Of her 7 calves, Snotnose (Catalog # 1123) has been the only one to produce offspring of her own.

Kleenex's family tree (pdf, 13.9mb)
Kleenex's biography

Shenandoah

(Catalog No. 1266)
Shenandoah was first identified in 1982 with a calf. Since then she has also had a total of 7 calves (of which the fathers are known for 2). Shenandoah is an interesting case, as two of her calves, Catalog # 1267 and Catalog # 1803, were fathered by the same individual 6 years apart.

Shenandoah's family tree (pdf, 7.1mb)

Wart

(Catalog No. 1140)
Wart was first identified in 1981.  Since then she has had a total of 6 calves, 3 of which have gone on to produce offspring of their own.  One of Warts’ offspring is Shackleton, a whale that is up for adoption through the New England Aquarium's Right Whale Research Project

Wart's family tree (pdf, 4.5mb)
Wart's biography

Misstip

(Catalog No. 1156 )
Now that we are able to determine the fathers of calves, descendant trees can also be made based on the males in the population.  Misstip is one of the most reproductively successful males that we have identified.  To date he has had 4 offspring with 3 different females between the period of 1982 to 1995. 

Misstip's family tree (pdf, 3.9mb)