Recent and noteworthy records of Cetacea from the Cape Verde Islands

• Main Authors: Berrow, Simon, López Suárez, Pedro, Jann, Beatrice, O’Brien, Joanne, Ryan, Conor, Varela, Jaquelino, Hazevoet, Cornelis J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: ddc:590; Arctic; Megaptera novaeangliae
• Online Access: http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/48880; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-488803; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-488803; http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/files/48880/berrow_et_al_2015_cetacea.pdf

During August-September 2014 and 2015, yachtbased surveys were conducted in the Cape Verde archipelago with the main objective of trying to locate humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae during the late boreal summer (Berrow et al. 2014). Spring breeding humpbacks in Cape Verde waters are known to have their feeding grounds in the high Arctic (e.g. Wenzel et al. 2009). While these animals have generally left the breeding grounds by mid-May, a number of sightings during the summer months (June- August) have raised the possibility that animals from southern stocks may occasionally reach as far north as Cape Verde (Hazevoet et al. 2011).