Three mass strandings of sperm whales ( Physeter macrocephalus ) in southern Australian waters

One hundred and fifteen sperm whales (97 female, 15 male, 3 unknown sex) were involved in three mass stranding events during the month of February 1998 along the west and northwest coastlines of Tasmania, Australia. Sixty-six of these whales stranded at Ocean Beach, Strahan; 35 at Greens Beach, Marr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Mammal Science
Main Authors: Evans, K, Morrice, MG, Hindell, MA, Thiele, D
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Society of Marine Mammalogy 2002
Subjects:
Environmental Sciences
Environmental Science and Management
Wildlife and Habitat Management
Physeter macrocephalus
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2002.tb01063.x
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/25349
Description
Summary:One hundred and fifteen sperm whales (97 female, 15 male, 3 unknown sex) were involved in three mass stranding events during the month of February 1998 along the west and northwest 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 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 data have been comprehensively collected from complete or near-complete groups of sperm whales from Tasmanian waters. Adult females dominated the three stranding groups. Total lengths ranged from 417 to 1,200 cm and ages ranged from 0.75 to 64 yr. Four females were lactating and four fetuses were found amongst the groups. Stomach contents were dominated by pelagic cephalopods.

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