The Baird's Beaked Whale Berardius bairdii Stejneger, 1883

 

Baird's beaked whale. Photograph by Eugene Mamaev

 

The body length of adult animals is up to 13 m (12 m avg), females are biiger than males, the weight is up to 15 tons (12 tons avg). Newborns are до 4,6 m long, their weight is unknown. It is the largest representative of the family of beaked whales.

The species inhabits only the waters of the North Pacific: the waters of Japan and the Kuril Islands, the Sea of Okhotsk, the waters off the coast of Kamchatka, at the islands of the Commander-Aleutian Arc and along the coast of North America right up to Mexico.

Baird's beaked whales stay in the waters of the Commander Islands up to winter. Photograph by Eugene Mamaev

 

Their ration consists of cephalopods, crustaceans and fish. They are deep-water divers (800-1200 m).

The duration of submersion is 20-67 min. They stay on the surface for 5 min.

Life expectancy is up to 84 years. In the sea can be identified by long black silhouettes with low bushy fountains. Stay in groups.

In the days of whaling this species was an object of hunting. Nowadays there is limited sea fishery in the waters of Japan.

During an active social interaction with each other Baird's beaked whales hit the water with their tail. Photograph by Eugene Mamaev

 

The number of species is not known exactly, according to incomplete data it equals 8 ths individuals.

This species was first described by a skull found in the bay Old Harbour on Bering Island. The description of a new species was made by Leonard Stejneger. The manager of the Commander Islands Grebnitsky N.A. gave him this scull as a present. Stejneger gave the species its Latin name bairdii in gratitude to a famous taxonomist Baird S.

Baird's beaked whales move in tight groups, at times back to back with each other. Photograph by Eugene Mamaev

 

The Baird's beaked whale is a common species in the waters of the Commander Islands. Here they stay throughout the year, but the number increases significantly since spring, more often they can be found in late summer - early fall. The main place of concentration of the species is the shelf edge along the west coast of Bering Island. Here Baird's beaked whales stay close to the coast and can be seen in groups of 7 - 30 individuals. As a rule, Baird's beaked whales are very agile and move in a tight group. During feeding they scatter around the area. From time to time you can watch their leaps; they jump out of the water completely. Migrations have not been studied. For winter they, apparently, go to the tropical waters of Japan.

Baird's beaked whale jumps out of water completely. Photograph by Eugene Mamaev