Latest Toothed whales Stories
A new species of dolphin native to Australia has been discovered off the coast of Port Phillip and the Gippsland Lakes by Monash University researchers, BBC News reports. The rare dolphins were formally recognized as a unique species after studies showed they are different to every other dolphin in the world. The dolphins, numbering at about 150, were originally believed to be one of two recognized bottlenose species. But by Thursday, they realized they were in fact unique and...
In a recent study to be published on April 27, 2011, in the peer-reviewed open-access journal PLoS ONE, Dr. Elliott Hazen and colleagues found that oceanographic and prey measurements can be used to identify beaked whale foraging habitat. The research team from Duke University, Woods Hole, and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center listened for foraging beaked whales and measured ocean features and distributions of prey off the east coast of Andross Island in the Bahamas.Their manuscript provides...
Project to Map Genetic Relatedness of Dolphin Populations in the South Pacific WASHINGTON, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scott Baker, Ph.D., associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute and professor of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University, has been awarded a 2011 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation. His project will map patterns of isolation and interaction among populations of dolphins in the South Pacific Ocean and identify habitats important to protect...
Scientists have long been aware of a link between naval sonar exercises and unusual mass strandings of beaked whales. Evidence of such a link triggered a series of lawsuits in which environmental groups sued the U.S. Navy to limit sonar exercises to reduce risk to whales. In 2008, this conflict rose to the level of the US Supreme Court which had to balance potential threat to whales from sonar against the military risk posed by naval forces inadequately trained to use sonar to detect enemy...
Researchers reported on Wednesday that baby dolphins are washing up dead along the oil-soaked U.S. Gulf Coast at over 10 times the normal rate in the first birthing season since the BP disaster. The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies said that about 17 baby dolphin corpses have been found along the shorelines of Alabama and Mississippi in the past two weeks. "The average is one or two a month. This year we have 17, and February isn't even over yet," Moby Solangi, director of the...
BIETIGHEIM-BISSINGEN, Germany, February 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pictures from the annual slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan have been circulating the globe for years. One of the high points was the Oscar- winning documentary, "The Cove," released about one year ago, which covered the dolphin capturing in Taiji. The film caused an international stir, but the initial hope that the dolphin killings would cease following the film would not come to fruition. (Photo:...
Two distantly related species of dolphin -- the Guyana and the Bottlenose -- often can be found socializing in waters off the coast of Costa Rica, according to a recent BBC report. Both species of dolphin make distinct sounds, but when they meet up, they change the way they communicate with each other by using a transitional language. It raises possibilities that the two species are communicating in some way. Details of the finding are published in the journal Ethology. It is not clear to...
A combination of the biology of marine mammals, mechanical vibrations and acoustics has led to a breakthrough discovery allowing scientists to better understand the potential harmful effects of sound on marine mammals such as whales and dolphins.An international team of researchers from San Diego State University, UC San Diego, and the Kolmården Zoo in Sweden has developed an approach that integrates advanced computing, X-ray CT scanners, and modern computational methods that give a 3D...
Nearly 60 pilot whales have died after becoming stranded on a beach in northern New Zealand, conservation authorities reported Friday.There were 73 total whales discovered on the beach mid-morning and the Department of Conservation's Carolyn Smith said the whales most likely beached overnight, which is why so many died before rescue operations were launched.Of the 73 pilot whales, 15 have survived, but are reported to be in "poor condition." Volunteers are making another attempt to rescue the...
Conservationists were shocked to see a gray whale which appeared off the coast of Israel on Sunday. Gray whales are thought to be extinct across the Atlantic Ocean, so this appearance made within the Mediterranean Sea was a major surprise. The whale could have inadvertently traveled a huge distance from its natural habitat thousands of miles away in the Pacific Ocean. However, questions are now being raised about the possibility that gray whales have returned to former haunts in the western...
Latest Toothed whales Reference Libraries
The Melon-headed Whale (Peponocephala electra; other names are many-toothed blackfish and electra dolphin) is a cetacean of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). It is closely related to the Pygmy Killer Whale and the Pilot Whales, and collectively these dolphin species are known by the common name blackfish. The Melon-headed Whale is widespread throughout the world's tropical waters, although not often seen by humans on account of its preference for deep water. Taxonomy On account...
The Australian Snubfin Dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) is a recently recognized species of dolphin first described in 2005. It is closely related to the Irrawaddy Dolphin, and closely looks like it. Until very recently it was thought to be an Irrawaddy dolphin. However, the Australian Snubfin Dolphin is three-colored, while the Irrawaddy dolphin only has two colors on its skin. Also the skull and the fins show minor differences between the two species. The discovery of a new mammal is...
Taxonomy Cuvier first described Risso's Dolphin in 1812. The species' common name is for Mr. Risso who described a specimen to Cuvier on which Cuvier made his first description. Another common name for Risso's Dolphin is the Grampus (also the species genus) - although as a common name was historically used to describe the Orca. Population and distribution It is found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters, usually in deep waters rather than close to land. As well as the tropical...
Fraser's Dolphin (Lagenodelphis hosei) or Sarawak Dolphin is a cetacean in the family Delphinidae found in deep waters in the Pacific Ocean and to a lesser extent in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Taxonomy The earliest known interaction between mankind and a Fraser's Dolphin came on a beach in Sarawak, Borneo in 1895. Mr. Charles E. Hose found a skull there and donated it to the British Museum. The scientific specific name is given in his honor. The skull remained unstudied until 1956...
The common dolphin is the name given to up to three species of dolphin making up the genus Delphinus. Prior to the mid-1990s, most taxonomists only recognized one species in this genus, the Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis. Modern cetologists usually recognize two species - the Short-beaked Common Dolphin, which retains the systematic name Delphinus delphis, and the Long-beaked Common Dolphin D. capensis. Differentiating species Despite the historic practice of lumping the entire...
