When vacationers take photos of whale sharks and post them online, their postings make it a bit easier for scientists to learn more about these animals, known as the world's largest fish, LiveScience reported.
While scuba diving, tourists visiting locations such as the Maldives and other Indian Ocean locations often snap photos of the sharks. Recently, a Wildlife Research journal study indicated that scientists could use 85 percent of whale shark photos posted on social media sites such as Flickr and YouTube to successfully identify individual sharks, according to a statement from Imperial College London issued to LiveScience.
Because sharks migrate very far, making it difficult for scientists to study them, these photos are a valuable source, even though they hadn't been considered before, the statement said.
"Globally, this outcome provides strong support for the scientific use of photographs taken by tourists for whale shark monitoring," Imperial College researcher Tim Davies said in the release. "Hopefully, this will give whale shark research around the world confidence in using this source of free data."
Scientists also snap photos of the whale sharks -- but they identify the sharks according to patterns on their gills, which function like fingerprints to pinpoint specific animals, LiveScience reported. The patterns are then scanned into the computer. Scientists are able to recognize the patterns in these amateur photos, LiveScience reported.
This study was conducted in the Maldives, a hotspot for whale shark tourism, LiveScience reported.
Whale sharks are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, one step before endangered -- and these photos could help scientists piece together more information about their history, according to LiveScience.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
