The life history of sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, from southern Australian waters ...

• Main Author: Evans, Karen J.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Physeter macrocephalus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23247002.v1; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/The_life_history_of_sperm_whales_Physeter_macrocephalus_from_southern_Australian_waters/23247002/1

One hundred and fifteen sperm whales (97 female, 15 male, 3 unknown gender) were involved in three mass stranding events during the month of February 1998 along the west and north-west coastlines of Tasmania, Australia. Sixty six of these whales stranded at Ocean Beach, Strahan, 35 at Greens Beach, Marrawah and 11 at Black River Beach, Stanley. The remaining three whales stranded singly along the coastline. Three mass strandings of this species in such close temporal proximity have not been reported in this area before, and this is the first time that samples have been systematically collected from complete or near-complete groups of sperm whales from Tasmanian waters. The broad aim of this project was to examine the life history of complete or near complete female groups of sperm whales in an effort to contribute to the paucity of knowledge on two key areas of research identified for sperm whales in the Australian Government's Action Plan on Australian Cetaceans: the basic biology of this species and ...