Category: whale

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A rare whale species observed on Antarctic expedition

The Arnoux’s beaked whale Berardius arnuxii. Credit: André Meijboom

The beaked whale species are a family of rarely seen whales. Despite there being 22 species of beaked whale (which we know about) they are rarely seen, and some have only been described in recent years.

Why are they seen so rarely? because they have a record breaking ability to hold their breath being able to hold it for over an hour (reasonably regularly) and have been recorded in dives lasting over 100 minutes. After sightings of this species, the researchers did a search and analysis of sightings between 1980 and 2000. Just 108 sightings were made, accounting for 1125 individuals.

Continue reading “A rare whale species observed on Antarctic expedition”
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Sperm whales make direction decisions democratically

Researchers have found that sperm whales decide on which way to turn democratically. While these whales only socialize with members of their own clan. You might think that this might restrict them, but generally clans have 20,000 females, making these groups huge (one of the distinguishing marks of the clan is by vocal dialects – which may end up as symbolic markers of the clan identity).

When travelling in a group they can take over 1 hour to decide which way to turn. These groups can be extremely large, and yet decide things together. Decisions like direction and speed of travel and also when to feed. While it is not clear how they reach consensus or how they “speak” to each other, it is clear that decisions are made together.

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Sperm whales can take over an hour to decide together which way to go

Family of spermwhales underwater near water surface, shot from below photo credit italy sokol-dbw8sol

Generally, only spending time with their clan (numbering around 20,000), it seems that decisions about where to go, are made cooperatively in a democratic way.

Taking up to an hour to make the decision about the direction of travel, they can often travel in large groups making communal decisions about destination, route and speed, as well as when to feed and what to do about predators.

Some of these clans live over large areas, split by as much as thousands of kilometres, and it is thought to be akin to language forming in humans. Interestingly, these clans can share areas of the sea, but will only spend time with other members of their clan. Social units within clans, are based around the females, with each unit consisting of around 10 females with their offspring. These become very close, with other females babysitting young while their mothers make deep dives to feed – even suckling is done as a group.

The sperm whale has a brain which is thought to be larger than any other animal to ever live.

Over a million were killed for their very pure oil, between 1712 and 1982. There are thought to be around 300,000 in the worlds oceans, however, before whaling it is thought that there were 1.1 million.

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The end of Whaling in Iceland, end of an era, or sensible financial move

Whaling went on for centuries, in many parts of the world. One of these was Iceland, where due to the latitude, it is often hard to grow much food. Iceland did not end whaling when it was banned by the international community, and since then have hunted and killed around 1800. They returned to hunting fin whales last year, but what is clear, is that not only do the Icelandic people not want to eat the whale meat, but there is little hunger for it elsewhere in the world. Indeed, whaling is incredibly expensive, and has only stayed afloat through government support.

Whales are essential to the worlds oceans, both through their fertilization through their waste, and the vast amounts of carbon that they sequester over their lives. For the foreseeable time we need every living whale we can have, in the fight against the damage which humans are doing to the planet.

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North Atlantic right whale population appears to be stabilizing!

The population of the north Atlantic right whales appears to have stabilized at around 350, having fallen from a peak of 483 in just 2010. In 2022 there were 356, down from 364 in just 2021.

Never a highly numerous species (it would appear) around 5500 were taken in the 3 centuries of whaling. The problem now, is that the population is so small that any looses imperil the whole species. Further, given the large amount of boating in the area, many of the remaining individuals have propeller scaring, and collisions are common and occasionally fatal.

Time will tell if this species can recover, though tourism interest is likely to give them a higher value to the local community and may help save the species.

Below is a short 5 minute video from the NOAA  (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

To visit our North atlantic right whale page click here   Should you operate in tourism for this species, do get in touch, we would love to help people find you- it costs nothing to be linked, we only take a small cut of any income we find for you. Click on List your wild place at the top of the page, or here

 

Beaked whales

Beaked whales

Beaked whales are a fascinating wide-ranging family. There are 24 species, but they spend much of their time in the ocean depths, and are capable of holding their breath for up to 3 hours.

More amazingly, it appears that some species might only spend several minutes at the surface before returning to the depths. Now, while this 3 hours record dive is repeatable is a big question. Assuming the beaked whale was capable of repeating this 8 times in a 24 hour period, we would be talking about a species which spends only 1% of its time at the surface. Given their shape also allows them to keep an incredibly low profile, even at the surface – and we do not know how many of them there are, it makes it clear how hard it would be to spot one.

If you could sit in one place, in the ocean for 24 hours, and have a whale repeatedly return to the surface for 2 minutes, half a mile away, it would not be hard to miss the animal.

Please note, where I have found a video, it is in line with the correct image. Before you reach all these species, there is an amalgamated news section for all beaked whales.

We are eager to support tourism of these species, but given they are seen so rarely, there is not a great deal of tourism connected to them. However, we will happily list anyone who does work in tourism and sees one of these even once (we will also list you on pages for cetaceans that you see more regularly.

Arnoux beaked whale Genus Beradius

Also known as the southern 4 toothed whale, southern beaked whale, New Zealand beaked whale, southern giant bottlenose whale and southern porpoise whale is one of the species of Berardius. This species and the one below, is so similar that only genetic evidence and the huge distance between them convinced people they were separate species. 

Little is known about them, because they are encountered so rarely

Baird Beaked whale Genus Beradius

Also known as the northern giant bottlenose whale, North Pacific bottlenose whale, giant four-toothed whale, northern four-toothed whale and the North Pacific four-toothed whale, is a species of whale from the genus Beradius. It is the second largest toothed whale after the Sperm Whale

Sato Beaked whale Genus Beradius

This whale was only recognized as a separate species on the basis of mtDNA. Its beak is usually only around 4% of body length. The name comes from the researcher who defined it (from pictures on land.

They generally have many scars, which are easy to see, as their skin is dark and the scars light to white.

Its classed as near threatened, though its hard to know.

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Hyperoodon – bottlenose whales, northern bottlenose whale The northern bottlenose whale was hunted heavily by Norway and Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is capable of diving incredibly deep, with recorded dives reaching 2339m, and has been timed staying under water for 130 minutes. The northern bottlenose whale is endemic to the North Atlantic Ocean< and populations are found in the deep (500 m) cold subarctic waters of the Davis Strait, Labrador Sea, Greenland Sea, Barents Sea, , but can range as far south as Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. As of 2017, the population in the North East Atlantic is estimated to be between 10,000 and 45,000.

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Hyperoodon – bottlenose whales, Southern bottlenose whale

The southern bottlenose whale is a species of whale, in the Ziphiid family, one of two members of the genus Hyperoodon. Seldom observed, the southern bottlenose whale is resident in Antarctic waters. The species was first described by English zoologist William Henry Flower in 1882, based on a water-worn skull from Lewis Island, in the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. They live in deep ocean waters over 1000 meters.

Gnerally their dives last 15-40 minutes, but it is unclear if they would be capable of diving for as long as the northern species. There are no population estimates, though they make up 90% of ziphiid sightings in Antarctic waters.

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Indopacetus, Tropical bottlenose whale

The tropical bottlenose whale, also known as the Indo-Pacific beaked whale or Longman’s beaked whale, was considered to be the world’s rarest cetacean until recently, but the spade-toothed whale now holds that position. As of 2010, the species is now known from nearly a dozen strandings and over 65 sightings. This is the only species in its genus.

Given how rarely they are sighted, they have not been hunted, though they have been killed accidently.

Andrews' beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Andrews Beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales Blainvilles beaked whale

Blainville's beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales Deraniyagala beaked whale

The Deraniyagala beaked whale is so rare, I have been unable to find a video to place here

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Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Gervaiss beaked whale

Gervais's beaked whale
Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales,

Ginkgo-toothed beaked whlae

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, grey beaked whale

grey beaked whale
Hector's beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Hectors beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Hubbs Beaked whale

Hubbs' beaked whale
Perrin's beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Perrins beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Pygmy beaked whale

Pygmy beaked whale
Ramari's beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

Sowerby's beaked whale
Spade-toothed whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

Stejnegers beaked whale
Strap-toothed whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

True's beaked whale
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