Seasonal distribution and diving behaviour of male sperm whales off Kaikoura: foraging implications

Male sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) were the preferred target of the whaling industry between 1950 and 1985, but despite hundreds of thousands of kills, very little is known about their ecology. To partially redress this, we present data on residency, seasonal distribution, and diving behaviour of individually identified sperm whales off Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, gathered during 15 field seasons over 8 years. One hundred and thirty-six sperm whales were identified within the study area. A lack of statistically significant differences in the abundance of sperm whales between summer and winter, and among the 15 seasons of fieldwork, suggests an adequate food supply year-round. Significant differences in distribution between summer and winter suggest that off Kaikoura, male sperm whales may change their diet in response to fluctuations in prey biomass. Diving behaviour was also significantly different between summer and winter: sperm whales dived for longer, stayed longer at the surface, an...

[1]  M. Clarke,et al.  Cephalopods in the diet of odontocetes , 1986 .

[2]  Donald L. Kramer,et al.  The behavioral ecology of air breathing by aquatic animals , 1988 .

[3]  R. O'dor,et al.  Squid (Loligo forbesi) performance and metabolic rates in nature , 1995 .

[4]  Bruce C. Heezen,et al.  Whales entangled in deep sea cables , 1957 .

[5]  D. E. Gaskin,et al.  Diet and feeding habits of the sperm whale (Physeter Catodon L.) in the cook strait region of New Zealand , 1967 .

[6]  H. Whitehead.  The behaviour of mature male sperm whales on the Galápagos Islands breeding grounds , 1993 .

[7]  E. Slooten,et al.  STABILITY OF FLUKE MARKS USED IN INDIVIDUAL PHOTOIDENTIFICATION OF MALE SPERM WHALES AT KAIKOURA, NEW ZEALAND , 1996 .

[8]  M. Clarke,et al.  Observation On Sperm Whale Diving , 1976, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[9]  D. E. Gaskin,et al.  Squid mandibles from the stomachs of sperm whales (physeter catodon l.) captured in the cook strait region of New Zealand , 1967 .

[10]  P. Best.  Social Organization in Sperm Whales, Physeter macrocephalus , 1979 .

[11]  H. Whitehead,et al.  Patterns of kinship in groups of free-living sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) revealed by multiple molecular genetic analyses. , 1996, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[12]  Daniel P. Costa,et al.  Continuous, deep diving in female northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris , 1988 .

[13]  I. Boyd,et al.  Diving behaviour in relation to water temperature in the southern elephant seal: foraging implications , 1991, Polar Biology.

[14]  M. Clarke.  Cephalopod biomass – estimates from predation , 1983 .

[15]  Hal Whitehead,et al.  Diving behaviour of the sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, off the Galapagos Islands , 1989 .

[16]  M. Clarke,et al.  The diet of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus 1758) off the Azores. , 1993, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[17]  R. O'dor.  Big squid in big currents , 1992 .

[18]  C. Lockyer,et al.  Body weights of some species of large whales , 1976 .

[19]  H. Whitehead,et al.  AGGREGATIONS OF MATURE MALE SPERM WHALES ON THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS BREEDING GROUND , 1997 .

[20]  C. Roper,et al.  Vertical distribution of pelagic cephalopods , 1975 .

[21]  Daniel E. Crocker,et al.  Sex differences in diving and foraging behaviour of northern elephant seals , 1993 .

[22]  C. A. Hui.  Undersea topography and distribution of dolphins of the genus Delphinus in the southern California bight , 1979 .

[23]  K. Eckert,et al.  Diving patterns of two leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) during internesting intervals at Sandy Point, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands , 1986 .

[24]  I. Boyd,et al.  The behavioural and physiological ecology of diving. , 1997, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[25]  Harry R. Burton,et al.  The Diving Behaviour of Adult Male and Female Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Pinnipedia : Phocidae) , 1991 .

[26]  Hal Whitehead,et al.  Variation in the feeding success of sperm whales: Temporal scale, spatial scale and relationship to migrations , 1996 .

[27]  R. O'dor,et al.  The constraints on cephalopods: why squid aren't fish , 1986 .

[28]  H. Whitehead,et al.  Coherence between 19th century sperm whale distributions and satellite-derived pigments in the tropical Pacific , 1996 .

[29]  A. Houston,et al.  Patterns in the diving behaviour of the pochard, Aythya ferina: a test of an optimality model , 1994, Animal Behaviour.

[30]  G. Jackson.  Age, growth and maturation of the deepwater squid Moroteuthis ingens (Cephalopoda: Onychoteuthidae) in New Zealand waters , 1997, Polar Biology.

[31]  W. Dolphin.  Dive behavior and estimated energy expenditure of foraging humpback whales in southeast Alaska , 1987 .

[32]  H. Whitehead,et al.  Behaviour and Vocalizations of Two Single Sperm Whales, Physeter macrocephalus, Off Nova Scotia , 1988 .

[33]  R. Vennell,et al.  Variability of water masses through the Mernoo Saddle, South Island, New Zealand , 2000 .

[34]  C. M. Scammon.  The Marine Mammals of the North-Western Coast of North America: Described and Illustrated, Together With an Account of the American Whale-Fishery , 1968 .

[35]  B. L. Boeuf,et al.  Feeding habits and feeding grounds of the Northern elephant seal , 1984 .

[36]  E. Slooten,et al.  Abundance and seasonal residence of sperm whales at Kaikoura, New Zealand , 1995 .

[37]  D. Demaster,et al.  ASSESSING NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL FEEDING HABITS BY STOMACH LAVAGE , 1987 .

[38]  William A. Watkins,et al.  SPERM WHALES TAGGED WITH TRANSPONDERS AND TRACKED UNDERWATER BY SONAR , 1993 .

[39]  Distribution and behaviour of male sperm whales on the Scotian Shelf, Canada , 1992 .

[40]  Hal Whitehead,et al.  Patterns of Visually Observable Behaviour and Vocalizations in Groups of Female Sperm Whales , 1991 .

[41]  M. Clarke,et al.  The Diet of Sperm Whales (Physeter Macrocephalus) Captured Between Iceland and Greenland , 1986, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[42]  G. Jackson.  Growth Zones within the Statolith Microstructure of the Deepwater Squid Moroteuthis ingens (Cephalopoda: Onychoteuthidae): Evidence for a Habitat Shift? , 1993 .

[43]  H. Whitehead,et al.  Scale-dependent correlation of sperm whale distribution with environmental features and productivity in the South Pacific , 1996 .

[44]  M. Clarke,et al.  A Review of the Systematics and Ecology of Oceanic Squids , 1966 .