Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2021

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster V21

Group size and composition of northern bottlenose whales in waters between Iceland and Jan Mayen

Höfundar / Authors: Hólmfríður Jakobsdóttir (1), Barbara K Neubarth (1,2), Patrick J.O. Miller (3), Paul J Wensveen (1)

Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1) Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, 2) University Centre of the Westfjords, 3) School of Biology, University of St Andrews

Kynnir / Presenter: Hólmfríður Jakobsdóttir

Knowledge on social structure and behaviour of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus) is very limited. Most research on social structure of northern bottlenose whales has focused on a small population of the species that inhabits three submarine canyons of the Canadian Scotian Shelf in the northwest Atlantic. In this study we examined group parameters of northern bottlenose whales in the northeast Atlantic. Data were collected between Iceland and Jan Mayen in the summers of 2013-2016. Visual estimates of group size (n=621) averaged three individuals and groups of six individuals or more were uncommon, with no difference across years. Twenty percent (n=30) of individuals analysed using photographic age-sex classification were classified as mature males and 80% (n=123) were classified as female-juvenile. Mature males preferred to associate with other mature males, whereas individuals in the female-juvenile age-sex class did not associate significantly more with individuals of either, or unknown, age-sex class. Validation of the photographic method based on a subset of 15 biopsied individuals showed excellent agreement with genetic sex classification. This study suggests that the group structure of northern bottlenose whales in the northeast Atlantic resembles that of the better understood Scotian Shelf population in the northwest Atlantic.