Whale shark names… top 10 released….get your voting fingers out!!
Whale shark names – cast your vote to be counted!
The tagging of whale sharks forms part of the tagging and tracking research theme and is conducted each year under the direction of our Senior Research Scientist Dr Rich Pillans. Its hoped that the data gathered from tagging these animals will help build a more informed picture on their movements and potential areas of importance to them.
Animals tagged as part of this research are given names and anyone can view their movements at seaturtle.org/tracking! This year we decided to invite you all to suggest and submit suitable names for the whale sharks we intend to tag in June 2017.
The competition closed on the 18th May 2017 and it was a tough choice with so many fantastic names submitted.
….but here they are…. our top 10 whale shark names for you to vote on (you can choose up to 5) …
Ningaloo Outlook: vote for your favourite whale shark name!
- Roger - 'In recognition of the brilliant 'fish' artist, WA's own Roger Swainston.' (21%, 94 Votes)
- Hagrid - 'Hagrid was the gentle giant in Harry Potter. He seemed frightening but he actually looked after people and saved Harry. He looked after the env.' (16%, 73 Votes)
- Big Biru - 'Biru means blue in Indonesia, this indicates that this Whale Shark traveled through the Indonesian waters to get to the Ningaloo Reef.' (11%, 50 Votes)
- Destiny - 'Destiny is the whale shark from Finding Dory movie!' (10%, 45 Votes)
- Jinormous Jack - 'It's the name of the whale shark in Jinormous Jack by Josephine Barrymore. It's a classic picture book set in Ningaloo!' (8%, 38 Votes)
- Peregrine - 'I like this name because it means 'wanderer' or 'traveller' in Latin and I feel like that captures the essence of these magnificent creatures.' (8%, 38 Votes)
- Wallace - 'Wally the Whale Shark just has a good ring to it! Wallace is a unique name for a unique shark 🙂 who is happy, relaxed and kind at heart.' (8%, 36 Votes)
- Junior - 'We like the name because it's a bit ironic. Whale sharks are so big and the name Junior implies something smaller.' (7%, 33 Votes)
- Sir Fredric The VII - 'Sir Fredric the VII came to Exmouth in search for a whale shark & succeeded. It would be very special to name a whale shark after the person who discovered one in 1978' (7%, 33 Votes)
- Polka - 'Because of all the Polka Dots!' (3%, 13 Votes)
Total Voters: 287
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Entries closed 3:00 pm on the 27th May 2017.
Winning names were announced at 3:10 pm on the Talanjee Oval, as part of the Ningaloo Whale Shark Festival in Exmouth.
We look forward to watching the journey of ‘Roger’; ‘Hagrid’; ‘Big Biru’ and ‘Destiny’ over the coming months!
Animals can be tracked here after the 20th June 2017!