Killer whale (Orcinus orca) predation on beaked whales (Mesoplodon spp.) in the Bremer Sub-Basin, Western Australia
Access Status
Open access
Authors
Wellard, R.
Lightbody, K.
Fouda, L.
Blewitt, M.
Riggs, D.
Erbe, Christine
Date
2016Type
Journal Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Wellard, R. and Lightbody, K. and Fouda, L. and Blewitt, M. and Riggs, D. and Erbe, C. 2016. Killer whale (Orcinus orca) predation on beaked whales (Mesoplodon spp.) in the Bremer Sub-Basin, Western Australia. PLoS One. 11(12): e0166670.
Source Title
PLoS One
ISSN
School
Centre for Marine Science and Technology
Collection
Abstract
Observations of killer whales (Orcinus orca) feeding on the remains of beaked whales have been previously documented; however, to date, there has been no published account of killer whales actively preying upon beaked whales. This article describes the first field observations of killer whales interacting with, hunting and preying upon beaked whales (Mesoplodon spp.) on four separate occasions during 2014, 2015 and 2016 in the Bremer Sub-Basin, off the south coast of Western Australia.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Salgado Kent, Chandra ; Bouchet, Phil; Wellard, Rebecca ; Parnum, Iain ; Fouda, Leila ; Erbe, Christine (2020)Cetaceans are iconic predators that serve as important indicators of marine ecosystem health. The Bremer Sub-Basin, south-western Australia, supports a diverse cetacean community including the largest documented aggregation of ...
-
Cato, D.; Savage, M.; Dunlop, R.; Parnum, I.; Blewitt, M.; Sue, G.; Donnelly, D.; Cleary, J.; McCauley, Robert (2010)Beaked whales have been over-represented in whale strandings that have occurred at similar times and places of some naval exercises in the northern hemisphere. Although whale strandings are common, it is unusual to find ...
-
D’Amico, A.; Gisiner, R.; Ketten, Darlene; Hammock, J.; Johnson, C.; Tyack, P.; Mead, J. (2009)Mass strandings of beaked whales (family Ziphiidae) have been reported in the scientific literature since 1874. Several recent mass strandings of beaked whales have been reported to coincide with naval active sonar ...