NPSpecies

Indigenous

Park Species Detail: Robbins and Mattila used photo-identification and biopsy sampling to monitor humpback whales off of Tutuila Island, American Samoa. Six surveys were done on the norther side of the island, where the NPSA boundary extends into the ocean. They found that animal movement tended to parallel the coastline. Singleton, paired whales, and females with calves were seen, sometimes accompanied by a single large whale. One mother was observed on two occasions prior to her first sighting with a calf, making it likely that the birth took place in American Samoa waters. According to maps which accompanied this report, at least two whales were sighted in NPSA waters. The results of this study indicate that American Samoa is a low-density wintering area where mating and calving likely take place., Park Species Data Source: NATUREBIB-622171, Robbins and Mattila 2005