Giant beaked whale
Encyclopedia
The genus Berardius contains two species of beaked whale
, Baird's beaked whale and Arnoux's beaked whale. The two species are so similar, some scientists regard their separation into distinct species as a historical anomaly. The two species are the largest of all beaked whale
s, and collectively they are sometimes referred to as the giant beaked whales.
Baird's beaked whale was first described by Leonhard Hess Stejneger
in 1883 from a four-toothed skull he had found on Bering Island
the previous year. The species is named for Spencer Fullerton Baird
, a past Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
. Arnoux's beaked whale was described in 1851 by Duvernoy
from a skull found in New Zealand. Berard was the captain of the ship that carried the skull from New Zealand to France where Duvernoy analysed it. Arnoux was the doctor on board the ship.
Both whales have a very long prominent beak
, even by beaked whale standards. The lower jaw is longer than the upper and the front teeth are visible even when the mouth is fully closed. The melon
is particularly bulbous. The body shape is slender - the girth is only 50% of length. The body is uniformly coloured and a particular individual's colour may be anything from light grey through to black. The flippers are small, rounded and set towards the front of the body. The dorsal fin
similarly is small and rounded and set about three-quarters of the way along the back. Both species pick up numerous white scars all over the body as they age and may be a rough indicator of age. There is little sexual dimorphism
in either species.
Arnoux's inhabit great tracts of the Southern Ocean
. Beachings in New Zealand
and Argentina
indicate the whale is relatively common in the areas south of those countries south to Antarctica. It has also been spotted close to South Georgia and South Africa
, indicating a likely circumpolar distribution. The northernmost stranding was at 34 degrees south
, indicating the whales inhabit cool and temperate, as well as polar, waters.
Baird's beaked whale is found in the North Pacific Ocean
, the Sea of Japan
and the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk
. They appear to prefer seas over steep cliffs at the edge of the continental shelf. Specimens have been recorded as far north as the Bering Sea
and as far south as the Baja California Peninsula
on the east side and the southern islands of Japan
on the west.
The total population is not known for either species. Estimates for Baird's are of the order of 30,000 individuals.
In the 20th century, Baird's beaked whales were hunted primarily by Japan
and to a lesser extent by the USSR
, Canada
and the United States
. The USSR reported killing 176 individuals before hunting ended in 1974. Canadian and American whalers killed 60 before halting in 1966. Japan killed around 4000 individuals before the 1986 moratorium on whaling
. About 300 were killed in the most prolific year, 1952. Baird's beaked whales are not protected under the International Whaling Commission
's moratorium on commercial whaling, as Japan argues they are a 'small cetacean' species, despite being larger than minke whales, which are protected. Each year, 62 Baird's beaked whales are hunted commercially in Japan, with the meat sold for human consumption. A landing and processing of a Baird's beaked whale was filmed by the Environmental Investigation Agency
on 07 August 2009. Meat and blubber food products of the whales have been found to contain high levels of mercury and other pollutants, such as PCBs. The conservation status of Baird's beaked whales is not known globally; however, the Mammalogical Society of Japan lists them as rare in Japanese coastal waters.
The Baird's beaked whale is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on Appendix II as it has an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored agreements.
Beaked whale
Beaked whales are 21 species of toothed whales, members of the family Ziphiidae, are notable for their elongated beaks. Beaked whales are one of the world's most extreme divers. They can dive for long periods—20 to 30 minutes is common, and 85 minute dives have been recorded—and to...
, Baird's beaked whale and Arnoux's beaked whale. The two species are so similar, some scientists regard their separation into distinct species as a historical anomaly. The two species are the largest of all beaked whale
Beaked whale
Beaked whales are 21 species of toothed whales, members of the family Ziphiidae, are notable for their elongated beaks. Beaked whales are one of the world's most extreme divers. They can dive for long periods—20 to 30 minutes is common, and 85 minute dives have been recorded—and to...
s, and collectively they are sometimes referred to as the giant beaked whales.
Baird's beaked whale was first described by Leonhard Hess Stejneger
Leonhard Hess Stejneger
Leonhard Hess Stejneger was a Norwegian-born American ornithologist, herpetologist and zoologist. Stejneger specialized in vertebrate natural history studies. He gained his greatest reputation with reptiles and amphibians....
in 1883 from a four-toothed skull he had found on Bering Island
Bering Island
Bering Island is located off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea. At long by wide, it is the largest of the Commander Islands with the area of ....
the previous year. The species is named for Spencer Fullerton Baird
Spencer Fullerton Baird
Spencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist, ichthyologist and herpetologist. Starting in 1850 he was assistant-secretary and later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C...
, a past Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. Arnoux's beaked whale was described in 1851 by Duvernoy
Georges Louis Duvernoy
Georges Louis Duvernoy was a French zoologist. He assisted Georges Cuvier in writing Leçons d'anatomie comparée. He was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1847 and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1851....
from a skull found in New Zealand. Berard was the captain of the ship that carried the skull from New Zealand to France where Duvernoy analysed it. Arnoux was the doctor on board the ship.
Physical description
The two species have very similar features and would be indistinguishable at sea if they did not exist in disjoint locations. Arnoux's is generally shorter. Estimated lengths of live Arnoux's at sea have been up to 12 m (39.4 ft), but all dead specimens have been considerably smaller. The Baird's, on the other hand, have been confirmed to grow to 12 –. The weight is up to 14000 kg (30,864.7 lb).Both whales have a very long prominent beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, even by beaked whale standards. The lower jaw is longer than the upper and the front teeth are visible even when the mouth is fully closed. The melon
Melon (whale)
The melon is an ovoid-shaped, fatty organ found in the forehead of all toothed whales , including dolphins and porpoises and believed to be used in echolocation....
is particularly bulbous. The body shape is slender - the girth is only 50% of length. The body is uniformly coloured and a particular individual's colour may be anything from light grey through to black. The flippers are small, rounded and set towards the front of the body. The dorsal fin
Dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...
similarly is small and rounded and set about three-quarters of the way along the back. Both species pick up numerous white scars all over the body as they age and may be a rough indicator of age. There is little sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
in either species.
Population and distribution
The two species' ranges do not overlap. This is perhaps the most significant reason they have historically been treated as separate species.Arnoux's inhabit great tracts of the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
. Beachings in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
indicate the whale is relatively common in the areas south of those countries south to Antarctica. It has also been spotted close to South Georgia and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, indicating a likely circumpolar distribution. The northernmost stranding was at 34 degrees south
34th parallel south
The 34th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 34 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America....
, indicating the whales inhabit cool and temperate, as well as polar, waters.
Baird's beaked whale is found in the North Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, the Sea of Japan
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
and the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and...
. They appear to prefer seas over steep cliffs at the edge of the continental shelf. Specimens have been recorded as far north as the Bering Sea
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
and as far south as the Baja California Peninsula
Baja California Peninsula
The Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...
on the east side and the southern islands of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on the west.
The total population is not known for either species. Estimates for Baird's are of the order of 30,000 individuals.
Behavior
Little is known about the behavior of Arnoux's beaked whale, but is expected to be similar to that of Baird's. The whales normally move in close-knit groups of about three to 10, with groups of 50 observed in exceptional circumstances. Considering the extent of whaling of the Baird's species, the pod structure is not well known. One interesting curiosity is that two-thirds of all whales caught have been male, despite the fact females are somewhat larger than males and would be the preferred targets for whalers.Conservation
Arnoux's beaked whale has rarely been exploited, and although no abundance estimates are available, the population is not believed to be endangered.In the 20th century, Baird's beaked whales were hunted primarily by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and to a lesser extent by the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The USSR reported killing 176 individuals before hunting ended in 1974. Canadian and American whalers killed 60 before halting in 1966. Japan killed around 4000 individuals before the 1986 moratorium on whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
. About 300 were killed in the most prolific year, 1952. Baird's beaked whales are not protected under the International Whaling Commission
International Whaling Commission
The International Whaling Commission is an international body set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling , which was signed in Washington, D.C...
's moratorium on commercial whaling, as Japan argues they are a 'small cetacean' species, despite being larger than minke whales, which are protected. Each year, 62 Baird's beaked whales are hunted commercially in Japan, with the meat sold for human consumption. A landing and processing of a Baird's beaked whale was filmed by the Environmental Investigation Agency
Environmental Investigation Agency
The Environmental Investigation Agency is an NGO founded in 1984 by Dave Currey, Jennifer Lonsdale and Allan Thornton, three environmental activists in the United Kingdom. Its stated goal is to investigate and expose crimes against wildlife and the environment...
on 07 August 2009. Meat and blubber food products of the whales have been found to contain high levels of mercury and other pollutants, such as PCBs. The conservation status of Baird's beaked whales is not known globally; however, the Mammalogical Society of Japan lists them as rare in Japanese coastal waters.
The Baird's beaked whale is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on Appendix II as it has an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored agreements.
Common names
- B. arnuxii is known as Arnoux's beaked whale, southern four-toothed whale, southern beaked whale, New Zealand beaked whale, southern giant bottlenose whale, and southern porpoise whale.
- B. bairdii is known as Baird's beaked whale, northern giant bottlenose whale, North Pacific bottlenose whale, giant four-toothed whale, northern four-toothed whale, and North Pacific four-toothed whale.
Specimens
- MNZ MM002654 B. arnuxii Arnoux's beaked whale, collected Riverton, near Invercargill, New Zealand, 27 January 2006
External links
- The Environmental Investigation Agency
- Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS)
- Baird's Beaked Whale - ARKive bio
- Arnoux's Beaked Whale - ARKive bio
- Arnoux's beaked whale - The Beaked Whale Resource
- Baird's beaked whale - The Beaked Whale Resource
- Rare whale gathering sighted - BBC News
- Species Convention on Migratory species page on Baird's Beaked Whale