Mesoplodon bowdoini: Andrew's Beaked Whale

Andrew's Beaked Whale - Mesoplodon bowdoini
( Andrews, 1908 )

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Subspecies:	Unknown
Est. World Population:

CITES Status:	NOT LISTED
IUCN Status:	Data Deficient
U.S. ESA Status:	NOT LISTED

Body Length:
Tail Length:
Shoulder Height:
Weight:

Top Speed:
Jumping Ability:	(Horizontal)

Life Span:	in the Wild
Life Span:	in Captivity

Sexual Maturity:	(Females)
Sexual Maturity:	(Males)
Litter Size:
Gestation Period:

Habitat:

Essentially nothing is known of the biology of this species, other than the few facts that have been gleaned from stranded individuals (Baker 2001). It lives in deep, offshore waters (Pitman 2002) and is assumed to be a deep diver that feeds primarily on small, midwater cephalopods and/or fishes, like other members of the genus (Baker 2001). Based on stranding records, the waters around New Zealand may represent an area of concentration for the species (Baker 2001).

Range:

Andrews' Beaked Whale is known only from a few dozen strandings between 32°S and 55°S; there are no confirmed live sightings at sea (Mead 1989, Baker 2001). Strandings have occurred in southern Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Tristan de Cunha, the Falkland Islands, Macquarie Island, Argentina and Uruguay, which indicates a circumpolar distribution north of the Antarctic Convergence (Baker 2001, Laporta et al. 2005). Well over half of the strandings are from New Zealand and there is a major gap in the known distribution in the southern Pacific Ocean.

No map is provided for this species because the distribution is uncertain with a few strandings as the only available data.

Conservation:

The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES. Research is needed to determine the impacts of potential threatening processes on this species.