Tracking 4 years in the life of a female whale shark shows consistent migrations in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean

Abstract

Context Satellite telemetry has revolutionised the study of animal movement, particularly for mobile marine animals, whose movements and habitat make consistent, long-term observation difficult. Aims Summarise the movements of Rio Lady, a mature female whale shark (Rhincodon typus), to characterise these movements, and to predict expected behaviour throughout the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Methods Rio Lady was tracked using satellite telemetry for over 1600 days, generating over 1400 locations and travelling over 40,000 km. State–space and move persistence modelling enabled characterisation of behaviour, and machine learning (ML) enabled the development of habitat-suitability models to predict habitat utilisation, on the basis of location transmissions and their environmental covariates. Key results Rio Lady exhibited annually consistent patterns of movements among three regions within the GOM. Final ML models produced seasonally dynamic predictions of habitat use throughout the GOM. Conclusions The application of these methods to long-term location data exemplifies how long-term movement patterns and core areas can be discovered and predicted for marine animals. Implications Despite our limited dataset, our integrative approach advances methods to summarise and predict behaviour of mobile species and improve understanding of their ecology.