Northern Bottlenose Whale Fast Facts
- Scientific name: Hyperoodon ampullatus (roughly translates to "excessively toothed bottle/flask")
- IUCN conservation status: Data deficient
- Currently listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in Canada, composed of two distinct sub populations: the Scotian Shelf and Labrador Davis Strait designated units.
- One of two species of beaked whale in the genus Hyperoodon (the other is the southern bottlenose whale)
- Sexually dimorphic, where mature males have large melons (foreheads) and two teeth that emerge from their bottom jaw.
The Whitehead Lab and Northern Bottlenose Whales
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Since 1988, the Whitehead Lab northern bottlenose whale research program has collected acoustic, visual, genetic and photographic data focused on the endangered Scotian Shelf population residing in the area of the Gully submarine canyon, a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the northwest Atlantic. Our long term research program has been acknowledged as contributing information vital to the conservation and management of the Gully MPA and northern bottlenose whales in Canada.
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Current Projects
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Laura Joan Feyrer (Ph.D. Student): My PhD research is examining the distribution, connectivity and persistence of northern bottlenose whale populations along the slope of the Canadian continental shelf in the northwest Atlantic. In 2016 we discovered a population of bottlenose whales off Newfoundland that has not yet been formally recognized. Given the pressures from anthropogenic threats in the Sackville Spur this is a potential conservation concern for bottlenose whales in Canada. To address this knowledge gap I am using multiple streams of evidence from habitat models, photo-identification studies, stable isotopes, genetics, fatty acids and trace elements to create a picture of population and habitat structure for the species.
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