New Zealand Blue Whales: Residency, Morphology, and Feeding Behavior of a Little-Known Population 1

• Published in: Pacific science 2015-10, Vol.69 (4), p.477
• Main Authors: Olson, Paula A, Ensor, Paul, Olavarria, Carlos, Bott, Nadine, Constantine, Rochelle, Weir, Jody, Childerhouse, Simon, van der Linde, Miranda, Schmitt, Natalie, Miller, Brian S, Double, Michael C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Aquatic mammals; Coasts; Dolphins & porpoises; Feeding behavior; Islands; Whales; Whales & whaling
• ISSN: 0030-8870; 1534-6188

Blue whales are in fre quently reported from New Zealand and their tax o nomic sta tus is un clear. Here we pres ent new in for ma tion on the res i den cy, ex ter nal mor phol o gy, and hab i tat use of blue whales en coun tered in New Zealand wa ters. Thirty - one blue whales were pho to - iden ti fied around the North and South Islands of New Zealand from 2004 to 2014 in seven dif fer ent months of the year. One pho to graphic match was found be tween June 2011 and March 2013: the first ev i dence that an in di vid ual blue whale has remained in or returned to New Zealand wa ters in dif fer ent years and sea sons. Observations of the ex ternal mor phol ogy of blue whales en coun tered offthe South Island con firm that there is a shorter, non - Antarctic form of blue whale oc cur ring near New Zealand. Body length and pro por tion, head shape, body con di tion, and skin con dition were sim i lar to Aus tra lian but not Antarctic blue whales. In 2013, feed ing be hav ior was ob served offthe South Island ' s west coast and strong ev i dence of feed ing was ob served offthe east coast and is the first reported oc cur rence of feed ing for these lo ca tions. Feeding be hav ior was also ob served in the Hauraki Gulf in No vem ber 2010. Feeding in these widely spread lo ca tions, in ad di tion to the re cently reported for ag ing ground in the South Taranaki Bight, sug gest that New Zealand coastal wa ters are a feed ing area for blue whales.