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This month’s photo, taken by Dylan, shows a male Cuvier’s Beaked Whale which was one of the highlights of my recent trip across the Bay of Biscay on a Brittany Ferries mini-cruise on behalf of ORCA (Organisation Cetacea) www.orcaweb.org.uk.
Now, get your spotting eyes on and look closely. It’s a weird looking animal, but small ivory-coloured teeth are (just!) visible at the top of the head, and of course you can see a lot of scarring. Adult males have a pair of teeth that protrude from the tip of the lower jaw and are usually covered in scars from the teeth of other males – perhaps as they battle for right to the females. This seasoned male was eloquently described to me by Dylan as “the Rocky Balboa of Biscay”.
Cuvier's Beaked Whale has been seen throughout the deep waters of the Bay of Biscay, with the majority of records coming from the deep water canyons of the Southern Bay. Single mothers with young calves have been recorded on two occasions, suggesting that the area may be a calving ground, and inquisitive animals have been recorded many times, often surfacing very close by, logging or moving slowly within a few tens of metres of ferries.
Beaked whales are one of the most specialised and least understood of all the mammals. The world they inhabit is at the edge of our understanding, even in the 21st century it remains almost universally beyond our reach. To ‘feel’ like a beaked whale take a deep breath (you’re going to hold it for an hour!) and plunge 900 meters down. By the time you get to the bottom, in a deep valley or hovering off the edge of a cliff, it’s inky black, but projecting a beam of sound ahead of you like a torch, you set off into the darkness, waiting for an echo. Still holding your breath (!), you chase fish and squid, which can fly through these dark depths with all the speed, skill and control of swifts and swallows. You are so far down that the human body would be crushed instantly by pressure - 102 kg pressing down on every cm2 of your body. Next time you are in a supermarket pick up a kilo of sugar and do the maths!
ORCA has a great website full of information at www.beakedwhaleresource.com and Cuvier’s Beaked Whale is one of the best beaked whale candidates for study as it can be found regularly in certain specific areas and has distinctive scarring and colouration. It is also a species for which there are growing concerns about the effects of high intensity industrial sounds; naval exercises have been implicated in the stranding of this species in several parts of its range, making long time studies all the more important.
In the coming year, Dylan and I will be travelling and guiding tours regularly from Plymouth and across the Bay of Biscay – watch this space for more details – and we’ll be giving talks about it too. Why not come and hear at this year’s British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water 15-17 August? The biggest event of its kind anywhere www.birdfair.org.uk , it’s a three day celebration of all things wildlife and we shall be lecturing on all three days – including about those wonders of Biscay.
Now, get your spotting eyes on and look closely. It’s a weird looking animal, but small ivory-coloured teeth are (just!) visible at the top of the head, and of course you can see a lot of scarring. Adult males have a pair of teeth that protrude from the tip of the lower jaw and are usually covered in scars from the teeth of other males – perhaps as they battle for right to the females. This seasoned male was eloquently described to me by Dylan as “the Rocky Balboa of Biscay”.
Cuvier's Beaked Whale has been seen throughout the deep waters of the Bay of Biscay, with the majority of records coming from the deep water canyons of the Southern Bay. Single mothers with young calves have been recorded on two occasions, suggesting that the area may be a calving ground, and inquisitive animals have been recorded many times, often surfacing very close by, logging or moving slowly within a few tens of metres of ferries.
Beaked whales are one of the most specialised and least understood of all the mammals. The world they inhabit is at the edge of our understanding, even in the 21st century it remains almost universally beyond our reach. To ‘feel’ like a beaked whale take a deep breath (you’re going to hold it for an hour!) and plunge 900 meters down. By the time you get to the bottom, in a deep valley or hovering off the edge of a cliff, it’s inky black, but projecting a beam of sound ahead of you like a torch, you set off into the darkness, waiting for an echo. Still holding your breath (!), you chase fish and squid, which can fly through these dark depths with all the speed, skill and control of swifts and swallows. You are so far down that the human body would be crushed instantly by pressure - 102 kg pressing down on every cm2 of your body. Next time you are in a supermarket pick up a kilo of sugar and do the maths!
ORCA has a great website full of information at www.beakedwhaleresource.com and Cuvier’s Beaked Whale is one of the best beaked whale candidates for study as it can be found regularly in certain specific areas and has distinctive scarring and colouration. It is also a species for which there are growing concerns about the effects of high intensity industrial sounds; naval exercises have been implicated in the stranding of this species in several parts of its range, making long time studies all the more important.
In the coming year, Dylan and I will be travelling and guiding tours regularly from Plymouth and across the Bay of Biscay – watch this space for more details – and we’ll be giving talks about it too. Why not come and hear at this year’s British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water 15-17 August? The biggest event of its kind anywhere www.birdfair.org.uk , it’s a three day celebration of all things wildlife and we shall be lecturing on all three days – including about those wonders of Biscay.
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