Through January-April 2000 research was carried out off the Rottnest trench to search for blue or pygmy blue whales. A consortium of researchers carried out aerial surveys, boat based studies and acoustical measures. Historical records led us to believe that a Western Australian population of pygmy blue whales (Balaenopteridae musculus brevicauda, sub species of the true blue whale, B. m. muscu...

Lunge feeding by rorqual whales (Balaenopteridae) is associated with a high energetic cost that decreases diving capacity, thereby limiting access to dense prey patches at depth. Despite this cost, rorquals exhibit high rates of lipid deposition and extremely large maximum body size. To address this paradox, we integrated kinematic data from digital tags with unsteady hydrodynamic models to est...

Cetaceans diverged from terrestrial mammals between 50 and 60 million years ago and acquired, during their adaptation to a fully aquatic milieu, many derived features, including echolocation (in odontocetes), remarkable auditory and communicative abilities, as well as a complex social organization. Whereas brain structure has been documented in detail in some odontocetes, few reports exist on i...

The occurrence of a blue whale is reported for the first time for the New Caledonian archipelago. The whale, a juvenile male in poor condition, entered the shallow inshore waters of the coral reef lagoon (22 0 19-24' S, 166 46-52' E) where it spent at least 1 month until it was killed by whaler sharks on 27 January 2002. Live observations, examination of photographic documents, and skull osteol...