Herd composition and behaviour of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two Canadian arctic estuaries
White whales occupy the Nastapoka River and Cunningham Inlet estuaries in northeastern Canada each summer. They arrive at the Nastapoka in late June and at Cunningham in mid-July, where numbers build to maxima of 260 and 1750, respectively. Distribution of whales in both estuaries is influenced main...
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Danish Polar Center/Museum Tusculanum Press
1994
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ftkbcopenhojs:oai:ojs.tidsskrift.dk:article/142546 2024-01-28T10:03:54+01:00 Herd composition and behaviour of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two Canadian arctic estuaries Smith, Thomas G. Hammill, Michael O. Martin, Anthony R. 1994-04-22 application/pdf https://tidsskrift.dk/meddrgroenland_biosci/article/view/142546 eng eng Danish Polar Center/Museum Tusculanum Press https://tidsskrift.dk/meddrgroenland_biosci/article/view/142546/186218 https://tidsskrift.dk/meddrgroenland_biosci/article/view/142546 Meddelelser om Grønland. Bioscience; Vol. 39 (1994): Meddelelser om Grønland. Bioscience; 175-184 Meddelelser om Grønland. Bioscience; Årg. 39 (1994): Meddelelser om Grønland. Bioscience; 175-184 0106-1054 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 1994 ftkbcopenhojs 2024-01-03T23:58:33Z White whales occupy the Nastapoka River and Cunningham Inlet estuaries in northeastern Canada each summer. They arrive at the Nastapoka in late June and at Cunningham in mid-July, where numbers build to maxima of 260 and 1750, respectively. Distribution of whales in both estuaries is influenced mainly by the state of the mixed semi-diurnal tides and, to a certain extent, by river outflow and date. Few adult males appear to be present in the estuaries, the herd being composed mainly of females with calves and weaned juveniles. Limited evidence suggests that the basic social units of herds are matrilines consisting of adult nursing females accompanied by older female offspring. The age structure of the herd changes seasonally with an increasing proportion of nursing pairs. Behaviour was grouped into four activity classes. These are descriptive and are not intended to imply functions, which remain somewhat obscure. Much of the nearshore behaviour appears to be related to the processes of shedding old skin and growing of new epidermis. Strong philopatry and physiological dependence of white whales on estuaries indicate that these are important habitats which must be managed and preserved in order to conserve the species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Delphinapterus leucas Nastapoka Tidsskrift.dk (The Royal Library, Denmark) Arctic Canada Cunningham Inlet ENVELOPE(-93.834,-93.834,74.118,74.118) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Tidsskrift.dk (The Royal Library, Denmark) |
op_collection_id |
ftkbcopenhojs |
language |
English |
description |
White whales occupy the Nastapoka River and Cunningham Inlet estuaries in northeastern Canada each summer. They arrive at the Nastapoka in late June and at Cunningham in mid-July, where numbers build to maxima of 260 and 1750, respectively. Distribution of whales in both estuaries is influenced mainly by the state of the mixed semi-diurnal tides and, to a certain extent, by river outflow and date. Few adult males appear to be present in the estuaries, the herd being composed mainly of females with calves and weaned juveniles. Limited evidence suggests that the basic social units of herds are matrilines consisting of adult nursing females accompanied by older female offspring. The age structure of the herd changes seasonally with an increasing proportion of nursing pairs. Behaviour was grouped into four activity classes. These are descriptive and are not intended to imply functions, which remain somewhat obscure. Much of the nearshore behaviour appears to be related to the processes of shedding old skin and growing of new epidermis. Strong philopatry and physiological dependence of white whales on estuaries indicate that these are important habitats which must be managed and preserved in order to conserve the species. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, Thomas G. Hammill, Michael O. Martin, Anthony R. |
spellingShingle |
Smith, Thomas G. Hammill, Michael O. Martin, Anthony R. Herd composition and behaviour of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two Canadian arctic estuaries |
author_facet |
Smith, Thomas G. Hammill, Michael O. Martin, Anthony R. |
author_sort |
Smith, Thomas G. |
title |
Herd composition and behaviour of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two Canadian arctic estuaries |
title_short |
Herd composition and behaviour of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two Canadian arctic estuaries |
title_full |
Herd composition and behaviour of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two Canadian arctic estuaries |
title_fullStr |
Herd composition and behaviour of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two Canadian arctic estuaries |
title_full_unstemmed |
Herd composition and behaviour of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two Canadian arctic estuaries |
title_sort |
herd composition and behaviour of white whales (delphinapterus leucas) in two canadian arctic estuaries |
publisher |
Danish Polar Center/Museum Tusculanum Press |
publishDate |
1994 |
url |
https://tidsskrift.dk/meddrgroenland_biosci/article/view/142546 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-93.834,-93.834,74.118,74.118) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Cunningham Inlet |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Cunningham Inlet |
genre |
Arctic Delphinapterus leucas Nastapoka |
genre_facet |
Arctic Delphinapterus leucas Nastapoka |
op_source |
Meddelelser om Grønland. Bioscience; Vol. 39 (1994): Meddelelser om Grønland. Bioscience; 175-184 Meddelelser om Grønland. Bioscience; Årg. 39 (1994): Meddelelser om Grønland. Bioscience; 175-184 0106-1054 |
op_relation |
https://tidsskrift.dk/meddrgroenland_biosci/article/view/142546/186218 https://tidsskrift.dk/meddrgroenland_biosci/article/view/142546 |
_version_ |
1789329467849572352 |