Out of 11,000 submissions in our competition to name the humpback whales we were tracking on their migration to the Southern Ocean, we narrowed it down to the final 30. Over 150,000 people then voted for their favorite name.
Mister Splashy Pants is the winner by a nautical
mile!
It seems like the world couldn't get enough of Mister Splashy
Pants with many websites encouraging their readers to vote for
'Splashy'. And as we all know, once the wonderful world of the
internet got hold of Mister Splashy Pants, it was all over bar the
final splash.
Mister Splashy Pants got a huge 119,367 votes (over 78 percent
of the vote) with his nearest rival being Humphrey at 4,329 (less
than 3 percent). The rest of the top ten were Aiko, Libertad, Mira,
Kaimana, Aurora, Shanti, Amal and Manami.
Many websites also took credit for the rise and rise of the
Splashy-Panted One. Some websites encouraged their readers to cheat
and vote more than once, while others like Treehugger seemed to imply that
Mister Splashy Pants wasn't a proper name for a whale.
We're sure Treehugger didn't mean it that way but it resulted in
a final wave of votes from their readers that took Splashy to an
unreachable position at the top of the pod.
To everyone who voted for Mister Splashy Pants, now that you've
named him, it's time to save
him - he might have a great name but he and his friends are
still in danger. The only way to be 100 percent sure that 'Splashy'
doesn't get harpooned is to stop killing all whales in the Southern
Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
With just a few clicks you can help save Mister Splashy Pants
and his friends: take
action and tell the United States to do all it can to put
pressure on Japan to stop whaling and save the whales.
For the people who voted for a name other than Mister Splashy
Pants, take heart. The scientists involved in the
Great Whale Trail tagged 20 humpback whales in the South
Pacific. The top 7 names will be used to name whales with a further
5 whales being named by our Whale Defenders.
In the coming days we will post photos of Splashy taken earlier
this year in the Pacific.
And last but not least, a big thanks to YOU, the people
who made the name-a-whale competition so much fun.
Save Splashy
Help save Mister Splashy Pants and his friends.
Become a Whale Defender
Sign up to be a whale defender and create your own personal fundraising page.