Gray’s beaked whales living in the deep oceans of the Southern Hemisphere are rarely seen alive and their ecology has remained a mystery to scientists until now.
Gray’s beaked whales living in the deep oceans of the Southern Hemisphere are rarely seen alive and their ecology has remained a mystery to scientists until now.
The study used genome sequencing of 22 whales washed up on beaches in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to investigate the history of the population over the past 1.1 million years.
Author of the study Dr Kirsten Thompson, of the University of Exeter, said: "The population approximately doubled about 250 thousand years ago, coinciding with a period of increased Southern Ocean productivity, sea surface temperature and a potential expansion of suitable habitat.”
The current population appears to have high levels of genetic diversity and no "genetic structure" (patterns of genetic similarity in geographical areas), suggesting the whales leave their birth groups and move widely throughout their Southern Hemisphere range.
Read more at: University of Exeter
Female Gray's beaked whale (Photo Credit: Mark Camm)
