The genus Berardius contains two species of beaked Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic placental mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. They are the largest mammals, the largest vertebrates, and the largest known animals in the world. The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, to just... whale, Baird's Beaked Whale and Arnoux's Beaked Whale. The two species are so similar that some scientists (see e.g. [4]) regard their separation into distinct species as a historical anomaly. The two species are the largest of all Genera Berardius Hyperoodon Indopacetus Mesoplodon Tasmacetus Ziphius A beaked whale is any of at least 20 species of small whale in the family Ziphiidae. They are one of the least-known families of large mammals: several species have only been described in the last two decades, and it is entirely... beaked whales and collectively they are sometimes referred to as the giant beaked whales.

Baird's Beaked Whale was first described by Leonhard Hess Stejneger (October 30, 1851 - February 28, 1943) was a zoologist. Stejneger was born in Bergen, Norway, and studied law and philosophy at the University of Christiania. He got a Ph.D. and started a brief career as a lawyer. However, his naturalist interests proved stronger and in 1881... Stejneger in 1883 from a specimen found in the The Bering Sea or Imarpik Sea is a body of water in the far northern Pacific Ocean covering over two million square kilometres. It is bordered to the north and east by Alaska, to the west by Siberia in Russia, and to the south by the Alaska Peninsula and the... Bering Sea. It is named for Spencer Fullerton Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American ornithologist and ichthyologist. Baird was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1840, and next year made an ornithological excursion through the mountains of Pennsylvania, walking, says one of... Spencer Fullerton Baird, a past Secretary of the The Smithsonian castle, as seen through the garden gate. The Smithsonian Institution is a museum complex with most of its facilities in Washington D.C.. It consists of 16 museums, 7 research centers and 142 million items in its collections. A monthly magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution is also... Smithsonian Institute. Arnoux's Beaked Whale was described in 1851 by Georges Louis Duvernoy (August 6, 1777 - March 1, 1855) was a French zoologist. He assisted Georges Cuvier in writing Leçons danatomie comparée. He was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1847. Categories: People stubs | 1777 births | 1855 deaths | French zoologists ... 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. [6]

Physical description

The two species have very similar features and would be indistinguishable at sea if they did not exist if disjoint locations. Arnoux's is generally shorter. Estimated lengths of live Arnoux's at sea have been up to 12m but all dead specimens have been considerably smaller. The Baird's on the other hand have been confirmed to grow to 12-13m.

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 close. The The melon is a oily, fatty lump of tissue found at the centre of the forehead of most dolphins and toothed whales The function of the melon is not completely understood, but scientists believe it provides a means of focussing sounds used in echolocation. Some species melons are more developed... 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 anything from light grey through to black. The flippers are small, rounded and set towards the front of the body. The Dorsal Fin of the Orca A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of fishes, whales, dolphins and porpoises. Its main purpose is to stabilise the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns. Some animals have developed dorsal fins with protective functions, such as spines or venom... 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 Male and female Common Pheasant, illustrating the large degree of sexual dimorphism between the sexes Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. At its most basic, sexual dimorphism can be seen in primary sexual characters - that is, the different reproductive... sexual dimorphism in either species.

Population and distribution

The two species ranges do not overlap and this perhaps the most significant reason why historically they have been treated as separate species.

Arnoux's inhabit great tracts of the The Southern Ocean is the body of water encircling the continent of Antarctica. It is the worlds fourth-largest body of water, and the latest to be defined as an Ocean, having been accepted by a decision of the International Hydrographic Organization in 2000, though the term has long... Southern Ocean. Beachings in For alternative meanings, see New Zealand (disambiguation). New Zealand is a country formed of two major islands and a number of Pacific Ocean. A common Māori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, popularly translated as Land of the Long White Cloud. New Zealand also maintains responsibility for the... New Zealand and Argentina is a country in southern South America, situated between the Andes in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east. It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast and Chile in the west. The country is formally named Rep... Argentina indicate that the whale is relatively common in the areas south of those countries down to World map showing location of Antarctica A satellite composite image of Antarctica For the Kim Stanley Robinson novel see Antarctica (novel) Antarctica (from Greek ἀνταρκτικός, opposite the arctic) is a continent surrounding the Earths South Pole. It is the... Antarctica. It has also been spotted close to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, also claimed by Argentina. They are administered from the Falkland Islands by UK civil commissioner Howard Pearce, representing Queen Elizabeth II. Defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom. Since 1982, the territory celebrates Liberation... South Georgia and The Republic of South Africa (pronunciation) is a large republic in Southern Africa. It is located at the southern tip of the continent, and borders Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. The small nation of Lesotho is entirely contained within South African territory. Its economy is the largest and most... South Africa, indicating a likely circumpolar distribution. The northernmost stranding was as 34 degrees south, indicating that whale inhabits cool and temperate as well as polar waters.

Baird's Beaked Whale is found in the North The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, peaceful sea, bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the worlds largest body of water. It encompasses a third of the Earths surface, having an area of 179.7 million km² (69.4 million sq... Pacific Ocean, the The Sea of Japan, known as the East Sea in South Korea, the East Sea of Korea in North Korea, and the Japan Sea in China, is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bound by the Japanese islands of Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu and Sakhalin island to the... Sea of Japan and the southern part of the The Sea of Okhotsk (from the Russian Okhotskoe more) is a part of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the disputed Russo-Japanese Kurile Islands on the east, the Japanese island of Hokkaido to the south and the island of Sakhalin, the Amur province of Siberia... 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 The Bering Sea or Imarpik Sea is a body of water in the far northern Pacific Ocean covering over two million square kilometres. It is bordered to the north and east by Alaska, to the west by Siberia in Russia, and to the south by the Alaska Peninsula and the... Bering Sea and as far south as the Baja California (highlighted) Alternative use: Baja California (state) Baja California or Lower California is a peninsula in the west of Mexico. It extends some 1250 km from Tijuana in the north to Cabo San Lucas in the south, separating the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California (or Sea of... Baja California peninsula on the east side and the southern islands of Official language Japanese Capital Tokyo Largest City Tokyo Emperor Akihito Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 60th 377,835 km² 0.8% Population  - Total ( 2004)  - Density Ranked 10th 127,333,002 337/km² GDP  - Total (PPP, 2005)  - Total (nominal)  ... 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.

Behaviour

Little is known about the behaviour 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 3-10, with groups of 50 observed in exceptional circumstances. Considering the extent of whaling of the species, the pod structure is not well known. One interesting curiousity is that two-thirds of all whales caught have been male, despite the fact that females are somewhat larger than males and thus would be the preferred targets for whalers, if they were as easy to catch.

Conservation

Arnoux's Beaked Whale has never been exploited and although no abudance estimates are available, the population is not believed to be endangered.

In the twentieth century Baird's was hunted primarily by Official language Japanese Capital Tokyo Largest City Tokyo Emperor Akihito Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 60th 377,835 km² 0.8% Population  - Total ( 2004)  - Density Ranked 10th 127,333,002 337/km² GDP  - Total (PPP, 2005)  - Total (nominal)  ... Japan and to a lesser extent by the The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) .( Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик... USSR, Canada is an independent sovereign state in northern North America, the northern-most country in the world, and the second largest in total area. Bordering the United States, its territorial claims extend north into the Arctic Ocean as far as the North Pole. Canada is a federation of ten provinces... Canada and the The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America¹, the States, or (archaically) Columbia — is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii... 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 morartorium on The crew of the oceanographic research vessel Princesse Alice, of Albert Grimaldi (later Prince Albert I of Monaco) pose while flensing a catch Whaling is the hunting and killing of whales. Historically, poor conservation management by many nations led to far more whales being killed than could be sustained and... whaling. 300 were killed in the most prolific year, 1952. Under the terms of the morartorium a quota was introduced and now 62 animals are killed each year for scientific research, with the meat being sold in local markets. The species is not believed to be threatened by this level of hunting.

Common names

• B. arnuxii Arnoux's Beaked Whale, Southern Four-toothed Whale, Southern Beaked Whale, New Zealand Beaked Whale, Southern Giant Bottlenose Whale, Southern Porpoise Whale
• B. bairdii Baird's Beaked Whale, Northern Giant Bottlenose Whale, North Pacific Bottlenose Whale, Giant Four-toothed Whale, Northern Four-toothed Whale, North Pacific Four-toothed Whale

References

1. Giant Beaked Whales in the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals pages 519-522 Teikyo Kasuya, 1998. ISBN 0125513402
2. National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World Reeves et al, 2002. ISBN 0375411410.
3. Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises Carwardine, 1995. ISBN 0751327816
4. A study of the genus Berardius McCann, 1975. Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst. Vol 27, 111-137.
5. An image of a Baird's Beaked Whale at monteraybaywhalewatch.com (http://www.montereybaywhalewatch.com/phbairds.htm)
6. cetacean.org on the origin of the species' names (http://www.cetacea.org/arnouxs.htm)