Overview
- Scientists reconstructed three-dimensional dive paths by localizing echolocation clicks with two time-synchronized High-Frequency Acoustic Recording Packages on the seafloor at roughly 1,100 meters off Louisiana.
- Over about 200 recording days, the team analyzed 50 deep foraging dives, including 24 goose-beaked, 24 Gervais’, and 2 Blainville’s beaked whale dives.
- Goose-beaked whales averaged approximately 3,225 feet in depth with maximums near 3,536 feet and typically foraged about 100 to 110 meters above the seabed.
- Species showed distinct vertical habitat use, with goose-beaked whales descending more steeply and clicking longer than Gervais’ whales, indicating niche partitioning in deep waters.
- The work provides the first detailed description of Gervais’ beaked whale diving behavior and is presented as timely for populations thought to have declined since the Deepwater Horizon spill.