BBC Wildlife - UK (2019-12)

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December 2019

1 ANTARCTICMINKEWHALE
Balaenopterabonaerensis
Declareda newspeciesin1998,
whenit wasformallysplitfromthe
slightlysmallercommonminke
whale(thoughwenowknowthat
thetwospeciesdivergedsometime
around4.7–7.5millionyearsago).

2 DERANIYAGALA’S
BEAKEDWHALE
Mesoplodonhotaula
Currentlyknownfromonly 11
confirmedspecimensanda
handfuloftentativesightingsat
sea,thispoorlyknownbeaked
whalewasoriginallydescribedin
1963 butwasn’tformallyaccepted
asa separatespeciesuntil2014.

3 NORTHPACIFIC
RIGHTWHALE
Eubalaenajaponica
4 NORTHATLANTIC
RIGHTWHALE
Eubalaenaglacialis
Theso-callednorthernrightwhale
wassplitin 2000 intotheNorth
AtlanticrightwhaleandtheNorth
Pacificrightwhale,duetogenetic
dierencesbetweenboththe
whalesandtheirlice.

5 DWARF BAIRD’S BEAKED
WHALE OR KARASU
Berardius sp
The existence of a new species
of Baird’s beaked whale has been
speculated for decades. Just eight
dead specimens have been found –
from the Sea of Okhotsk and Alaska.

6 INDO-PACIFIC FINLESS
PORPOISE
Neophocaena phocaenoides
7 NARROW-RIDGED
FINLESS PORPOISE
Neophocaena asiaeorientalis
In 2009 it was ocially agreed
that, instead of one species of

finlessporpoise,thereareactually

two,whicharereproductivelyisolated

andcanbetoldapartinthewild.

8 AUSTRALIANSNUBFIN

DOLPHIN

Orcaellaheinsohni

Untilrecently,theAustraliansnubfin

dolphinwasregardedasa formof

Irrawaddydolphin,butwasdeclared

a separatespeciesin2005.

9 SPADE-TOOTHEDWHALE

Mesoplodontraversii

Everythingweknowaboutthespade-

toothedwhaleisfromtwostrandings

(amother-and-calfpair,andoneadult

male),twoweatheredskullsanda

singlejawbonewithteeth.

10 PERRIN’SBEAKEDWHALE

Mesoplodonperrini

Ociallynamedin2002,thisis

oneoftheleast-knownofalllarge

mammals.Allinformationisbased

ona handfulofstrandedspecimens

insouthernCalifornia.

11 GUIANA DOLPHIN

Sotalia guianensis

At first glance, the Guiana dolphin

resembles a small bottlenose dolphin.

But it is most closely related to

the tucuxi. The two species were

separated in 2007.

12 INDIAN OCEAN

HUMPBACK DOLPHIN

Sousa plumbea

Recent work now describes four

species of humpback dolphins

(instead of two): Indian Ocean,

Into-Pacific, Australian and Atlantic.

13 PERUVIAN BEAKED WHALE

Mesoplodon peruvianus

There is evidence that this is the

previously unnamed species known

for years merely as ‘Mesoplodon

species A’. Recently, it has become the

most frequently sighted Mesoplodon

beaked whale in the sub-tropical

and tropical eastern Pacific Ocean

(although, of course, this is relative).

14 OMURA’S WHALE

Balaenoptera omurai

Named in 2003 (making it the most

recently described living species

of baleen whale), Omura’s whale

was originally believed to be a

small member of the ‘Bryde’s

whale complex’.

With plenty of little-known and newly discovered

cetacean species roaming our oceans, here is just

a handful that you may not have heard of...

A formal

introduction