Tail power

Title: Tail power

Location:  Sydney, Australia

Some of these gulls were quite startled when this whale began to throw its’ tail or tail-lob. You can see how much water is being thrown in the air and how powerful their tails are.

You can also see the white area under the tail fluke; how much of this area is white helps scientists to identify individual whales and, from these observations, understand more about their migration and how much local whale populations mix.

The underside of the tail fluke can be anything from almost completely white to almost completely black. Southern hemisphere whales tend to have white undersides to both flukes and their bodies. Northern hemisphere whales tend to be dark grey.

 Please refer to the “Sizing Guide” page for more information.