What is a beaked whale?

A beaked whale is any member of the family Ziphiidae, containing over 20 species of medium-sized toothed whales possessing an extended snout, including bottlenose whales. They range in size from 3.7 meters to nearly 13 meters and weigh between 1,000 and 14,000 kg. These rapid swimmers and deep divers are seldom seen because their blow is directed forward and doesn't rise much above the water's surface. They are found in all the world’s oceans, and while some travel alone or in small groups, others appear in pods of 30 or more. Squid is their preferred prey, but they also eat fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates.

Where do beaked whales live?

Beaked whales are rapid swimmers and deep divers that are found in all of the world’s oceans, though certain species have limited distributions. Different species of beaked whales live in different areas: * Arnoux’s beaked whale lives in middle and high latitudes of the southern oceans. * Baird’s beaked whale inhabits the northern Pacific. * Northern bottlenose whales live in the Atlantic Ocean from New England, Nova Scotia, northern Europe, the British Isles, and Norway northward to Greenland, Iceland, Jan Mayen Island, and the limit of the pack ice in the Davis Strait. * Southern bottlenose whale's range extends slightly farther north than the Arnoux’s beaked whale. * Cuvier’s beaked whale lives in temperate and tropical waters. * Longman’s beaked whale is an Indo-Pacific species. * Shepherd’s beaked whale lives in far southern seas and around Antarctica.

How can you recognize a beaked whale?

Beaked whales are recognized by their unique physical characteristics. They possess a relatively long, narrow snout resembling a beak. These whales have two throat grooves that converge under the chin and lack a central notch in their wide flukes. Other key features include small, rounded flippers and a dorsal fin positioned towards the rear. Their color varies, often displaying a mix of gray or black with white. Their bodies frequently bear scars from fights and cookie-cutter shark bites; males typically have more scars than females.

What do beaked whales eat?

Beaked whales are rapid swimmers and deep divers found in all the world's oceans. Squid is their preferred prey, but most beaked whales also eat fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates. As toothed whales, they are active hunters that use echolocation to find their prey. They consume a wide variety of prey, ranging from small shrimp, fish, and squid to larger fish and giant squid.

How do beaked whales dive and hunt in the ocean?

Beaked whales are rapid swimmers and deep divers that are seldom seen. They are known to dive for almost an hour, with the record being 222 minutes. They use echolocation to find prey by emitting rapid clicks containing high frequencies. These clicks bounce off objects, helping them locate food. Their preferred prey is squid, but they also consume fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates. Some travel alone or in small groups, while others appear in pods of up to 30 or more, often surfacing and diving in unison.

What are some threats faced by beaked whales in the wild?

Beaked whales face several threats in their natural habitats. Noise pollution, especially from naval sonar devices, disrupts their ability to communicate, navigate, and find food, and has been linked to mass strandings. Plastic pollution poses a significant danger, as beaked whales can ingest plastic debris, mistaking it for food, which can lead to starvation or death. They can also become entangled in plastic waste like fishing gear.

beaked whale

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Illustration of a giant northern bottlenose whale, Berardius bairdii, with a streamlined dark body and pronounced beak, shown alongside a diver silhouette and scale bars indicating its large size.

What is known about True's beaked whale?

Quick Facts

Related Topics:: Tasmacetus; Mesoplodon; Berardius; Indopacetus; Ziphius

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beaked whale

mammal

Also known as: Hyperoodontidae, Ziphiidae

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Britannica Editors

History

Top Questions

What is a beaked whale?
A beaked whale is any member of the family Ziphiidae, containing over 20 species of medium-sized toothed whales possessing an extended snout, including bottlenose whales. They range in size from 3.7 meters to nearly 13 meters and weigh between 1,000 and 14,000 kg.

These rapid swimmers and deep divers are seldom seen because their blow is directed forward and doesn't rise much above the water's surface. They are found in all the world’s oceans, and while some travel alone or in small groups, others appear in pods of 30 or more. Squid is their preferred prey, but they also eat fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates.
4 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Where do beaked whales live?
Beaked whales are rapid swimmers and deep divers that are found in all of the world’s oceans, though certain species have limited distributions.

Different species of beaked whales live in different areas:
* Arnoux’s beaked whale lives in middle and high latitudes of the southern oceans.
* Baird’s beaked whale inhabits the northern Pacific.
* Northern bottlenose whales live in the Atlantic Ocean from New England, Nova Scotia, northern Europe, the British Isles, and Norway northward to Greenland, Iceland, Jan Mayen Island, and the limit of the pack ice in the Davis Strait.
* Southern bottlenose whale's range extends slightly farther north than the Arnoux’s beaked whale.
* Cuvier’s beaked whale lives in temperate and tropical waters.
* Longman’s beaked whale is an Indo-Pacific species.
* Shepherd’s beaked whale lives in far southern seas and around Antarctica.
2 Britannica Sources
1. beaked whale: Natural history
2. bottlenose whale
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How can you recognize a beaked whale?
Beaked whales are recognized by their unique physical characteristics. They possess a relatively long, narrow snout resembling a beak. These whales have two throat grooves that converge under the chin and lack a central notch in their wide flukes.

Other key features include small, rounded flippers and a dorsal fin positioned towards the rear. Their color varies, often displaying a mix of gray or black with white. Their bodies frequently bear scars from fights and cookie-cutter shark bites; males typically have more scars than females.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What do beaked whales eat?
Beaked whales are rapid swimmers and deep divers found in all the world's oceans. Squid is their preferred prey, but most beaked whales also eat fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates. As toothed whales, they are active hunters that use echolocation to find their prey. They consume a wide variety of prey, ranging from small shrimp, fish, and squid to larger fish and giant squid.
5 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How do beaked whales dive and hunt in the ocean?
Beaked whales are rapid swimmers and deep divers that are seldom seen. They are known to dive for almost an hour, with the record being 222 minutes. They use echolocation to find prey by emitting rapid clicks containing high frequencies. These clicks bounce off objects, helping them locate food. Their preferred prey is squid, but they also consume fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates. Some travel alone or in small groups, while others appear in pods of up to 30 or more, often surfacing and diving in unison.
5 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What are some threats faced by beaked whales in the wild?
Beaked whales face several threats in their natural habitats. Noise pollution, especially from naval sonar devices, disrupts their ability to communicate, navigate, and find food, and has been linked to mass strandings.

Plastic pollution poses a significant danger, as beaked whales can ingest plastic debris, mistaking it for food, which can lead to starvation or death. They can also become entangled in plastic waste like fishing gear.
4 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

beaked whale, (family Ziphiidae), any of more than 20 species of medium-sized toothed whales that have an extended snout, including the bottlenose whales. Little is known about this family of cetaceans; one species was first described in 1995, two others are known only from skeletal remains, and the bodies of undescribed species occasionally drift ashore.

Natural history

In addition to the snout, beaked whales are characterized by two throat grooves that meet under the chin and by the lack of a central notch in their wide flukes. Other distinguishing features are small rounded flippers and a dorsal fin located toward the rear of the body. Ranging in length from 3.7 metres (12.1 feet) for the dwarf, or pygmy, beaked whale (Mesoplodon peruvianus) to nearly 13 metres (42.7 feet) for the giant bottlenose whale (Berardius bairdii), these mammals weigh between 1,000 and 14,000 kg (2,200 and 31,000 pounds). Colour is variable but usually consists of some combination of gray or black with white. Their bodies are often covered with scars from fighting each other and from bites of the cookie-cutter shark (genus Isistius). Males are more heavily scarred than females because of fights with other males for mates. In some species the males have bone inside the beak that is as dense as some rocks. In almost all beaked whales, functional teeth are limited to one or two pairs present only in the lower jaw, and these usually erupt through the gums only in the male. In the strap-toothed whale (M. layardii), these two tusklike teeth are remarkable in that they curve upward out of the mouth, holding the jaws partially shut. Shepherd’s beaked whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi) is unusual in having numerous small functional teeth.

Rapid swimmers and deep divers, beaked whales are seldom seen, because the structure of the head and blowhole causes their blow to be directed forward and not rise much above the surface of the water. They are found in all the world’s oceans, although certain species have limited distributions. Some are solitary or travel in small groups, but others may appear in pods of 30 or more. Groups often surface and dive in unison. Squid is their preferred prey, although most also eat fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates. As with other whales, the stomach is complex, containing up to 14 compartments (see cetacean: Feeding adaptations). Although beaked whales lack the usual first compartment (forestomach), their connecting chambers, which contain up to 10 subcompartments, are more complex than those in other cetaceans.

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

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Animal Group Names

Paleontology and classification

Family Ziphiidae (Hyperoodontidae in some classifications) is one of the early offshoots of the toothed whale lineage, appearing about 20 million years ago, early in the Miocene Epoch. Related families include dolphins (family Delphinidae) and sperm whales (family Physeteridae). There is no consensus about the relationships of the individual genera within the family.

Family Ziphiidae (beaked whales)
23 species in 6 genera found in parts of all oceans.
- Genus Mesoplodon
  15 species found worldwide, all possessing a single pair of teeth. Bahamonde’s beaked whale (M. bahamondi), first described in 1995, is known only on the basis of a damaged skull from the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile. In 2002 M. perrini was established after analysis of DNA from 4 dead specimens found near San Diego, California, U.S. In 2014 M. hotaula (discovered in 1963) was reclassified as a separate species after having been classified with M. ginkodens for several years.
- Genus Berardius (giant beaked, or giant bottlenose, whales)
  3 species, 2 of the northern Pacific and 1 of far southern seas and around Antarctica.
- Genus Hyperoodon (bottlenose whales)
  2 species, 1 primarily of the North Atlantic and the other of far southern seas and around Antarctica.
- Genus Indopacetus (Longman’s beaked whale)
  1 Indo-Pacific species identified only from skeletons in 1926 and 1955.
- Genus Tasmacetus (Shepherd’s beaked whale)
  1 species of far southern seas and around Antarctica.
- Genus Ziphius (Cuvier’s beaked, or goose-beaked, whale)
  1 species of temperate and tropical waters.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by John P. Rafferty.

beaked whale

Natural history

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Paleontology and classification