Mexican and U.S. scientists encountered 29 groups of Cuvier’s beaked whales and studied their habitat and behavioral patterns during a two-week field survey in October at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island aboard a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel.
Cuvier’s beaked whales can dive to almost 10,000 feet and stay underwater for as long as two hours, making them difficult to track and study.
“These sightings represent a big deal for the scientific community, especially when you realize how difficult it is to observe Cuvier’s beaked whales,” Chief Scientist Gustavo Cárdenas-Hinojosa of the research expedition says in an article at the Sea Shepherd website. “Just as an example, a recent 40-day research cruise in California yielded five sightings of Cuvier’s beaked whales.”
This video from Sea Shepherd has more:
Jenny Trickey, of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, says the deep waters around Guadalupe Island are ideal for studying the whales. Scientists can see them frequently and close to land.
