Photo-Identification catalogue of killer whales of the Falkland Islands (2013-2019)

The data is the first established photo-identification catalogue of killer whales of Sea Lion Island, the hotspot of killer whale observations in the Falklands. The catalogue is available online, on the research group website, www.eleseal.org, and it is regularly updated. Photo-identification is a very important component of any killer whale (Orcinus orca) study. Killer whales can be identified using natural sign in the saddle patch and in the dorsal fin. Different individuals usually have peculiar scars or notches that permit a sure identification. Pictures in the catalogue come from different sources: 1) pictures taken at Sea Lion Island by tourists and visitors; 2) pictures taken in other places of the Falklands; 3) pictures taken from recreational vessels, cruise ships and fishing boats. The goal is to provide a unified catalog of all killer whales observed in the Falklands, that can also be used to facilitate the identification of matches with photo-identification catalogues assembled in other places.

Data and Resources

This dataset has no data

Additional Info

Field	Value
Last Updated	December 14, 2020, 09:52 (PST)
Created	January 30, 2020, 05:20 (PST)
Region	Falkland Islands
Language	eng
Topic Category	Biota; flora and/or fauna in natural environment
Temporal Extent Start	2013-01-01
Temporal Extent End	2019-12-31
Dataset Reference Date	2019
Lineage	From 2013 to 2019 pictures of killer whales were taken from the coastline of Sea Lion Island using digital cameras (Canon EOS 7D, Olympus E-M10) fitted with long zoom lenses (from 100-400 to 150-500mm). It was decided to use the original RAW formant of the camera, avoiding compressed formats (e.g., JPEG) that could generate artifacts. Experienced operators manually matched each good quality pictures with reference pictures of know individuals. Intra- and inter-rater reliability was close to 100% when high quality pictures were examined. The identification process have been carried out until all killer whales present in the observation were identified in at least one picture. If two operators were not able to find a match, a new identity record was created, and the new individual was added to the catalogue. To help identification, the DARWIN software was used to match dorsal fin outlines, but the most of the identification work was carried out manually using signs of the saddle patch.
West Longitude	187477.46
South Latitude	4133693.23
East Longitude	452531.38
North Latitude	4341392.2
Spatial Reference System	UTM 21S WGS84
Responsible Organisation Name	Hidden (personal data protection)
Contact Mail Address	Hidden (personal data protection)
Responsible Party Role	Hidden (personal data protection)
Access Limitations	Restricted, send data request to data owner
Use Constraints	Restricted, but open subject to limitations and prior agreement with responsible organisation. Copyright must be cited
Resource Reference	Copyright ESRG 1995-present - All Rights Reserved. Please contact ESRG before citing unpublished reports.
Data Format	pdf
Update Frequency	annually
Accuracy	high confidence
Resource Type	Report
Original Title	Hidden (internal use only)
Metadata Date	2019-04-03
Metadata Point of Contact	datamanager@saeri.ac.fk
Contact Consent	Contact details hidden
Unique Resource ID	FK-ESRG-179

Dataset extent

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