- © Nancy Black. Used with permission
Baird’s beaked whales are the largest of the currently known 21 species of beaked whales. Their habitat is the deep ocean which makes them challenging whales to study in the wild. Most information about them has been obtained from dissections of animals killed in coastal hunting off Japan and studies of stranded whales. They are odontocetes, toothed whales, and their tooth structure of two pairs of two teeth each gives them one of their common names, “four-toothed whales”. Another common name for these north Pacific whales is “northern giant bottlenose whale”, because of their dolphin-like beak.
Facts and Features
- Geographic Distribution
Northwestern Pacific Ocean south of Bering Sea to Sea of Japan to central California
- Amazing Facts
In 2002 the 21st beaked whale species was identified through DNA analysis of teeth and tissues from five whales stranded on the coast of southern California in the 1970s. The specimens had been preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The species was given the name, Perrin’s beaked whale Mesoplodon perrini. A sighting of a live animal has been reported in recent years. Adult males have a single, large, triangular tusk located behind the tip of the lower jaw. It is believed that this species is limited to the north Pacific.
- At the Aquarium
Due to the space requirements for these intelligent and dynamic animals, we do not exhibit live whales or dolphins. The voices of beaked whales can be heard in the interactive kiosk's Whales: Voices in the Sea.