Hawaii’s Humpback Whales: A Living Science Lesson with NOAA

What can humpback whales teach your students about how science works? In this episode Dave talks with Sara Wood of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary about studying and protecting whales—and the questions researchers are still working to answer.

Sara explains why more than 10,000 humpback whales travel to Hawaii each year, how researchers identify individual whales by their unique tail patterns, and how drones support whale surveys, health assessments, and entanglement response. For K–12 science teachers, these examples connect animal migration, adaptations, and population science with the technologies scientists use to collect evidence in the field.

The conversation also explores the mysteries of whale song, what scientists know about whale communication, and how vessel noise and changing ocean conditions may affect these animals. Along the way, Sara introduces citizen science and the Hawaiian practice of kilo—careful observation of the natural world—as ways to deepen our understanding of ocean ecosystems.

With stories about helping entangled whales and a reminder to avoid assuming what animals are thinking, this episode offers starting points for classroom discussions about observation, inference, and conservation. Invite your students to consider: What can we learn by observing closely, and what more evidence would we need to explain what we see?

Sara's PD session (w/pd certificate) from Science is Cool 16: Hawai‘i with include lesson resources

 

ABOUT SARA

Sara Wood is the Sanctuary Programs and Operations Specialist at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. She previously spent three years aboard NOAA research vessel Koholā on Maui, conducting field research on humpback whale behavior, health, risk assessment, and conservation threats. She is a certified Level 3 Large Whale Entanglement Responder and brings extensive on-the-water experience to her work protecting humpback whales in Hawaiʻi.