Cuvier’s beaked whale is a toothed whale with a sloping forehead and a short beak that resembles a goose’s beak. It is sometimes called the goose-beaked whale. Cuvier’s beaked whale is one of the most widely distributed sea mammals. It lives in the deep offshore waters of all oceans and large seas, except in the polar regions. It is named for Baron Cuvier, the French naturalist who first described the animal.
Cuvier’s beaked whales are medium-sized whales. They may grow up to 23 feet (7 meters) long and weigh almost 3.3 tons (3 metric tons). These whales vary greatly in color, from dark gray to reddish-brown. As a Cuvier’s beaked whale ages, the head becomes lighter in color. The neck and body of males also lighten over time. The head of an old male is almost completely white. The lower jaw extends slightly farther forward than the upper jaw. A single pair of teeth slightly erupts (breaks through the gum) at the tip of the lower jaw, but only in adult males. The body of a Cuvier’s beaked whale, especially the male, is often covered with single- or double-lined scratches, probably the result of fighting. Females and young males have no erupted teeth.
Cuvier’s beaked whales generally live alone or in groups of fewer than 10 individuals. They are deep divers. One Cuvier’s beaked whale was tracked to a depth of nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). Another Cuvier’s beaked whale stayed underwater on a dive for more than 2 hours. Like most beaked whales, they prey on deepwater fish and squid, which they catch by suction and swallow whole.
Little is known about the lives of Cuvier’s beaked whales. However, these whales strand (come ashore) fairly often. Mass strandings are events involving a group of whales coming ashore at the same time in the same area. These sometimes occur when groups are exposed to the intense sounds of naval sonar, a system that uses sound energy to locate objects underwater. The greatest threats to Cuvier’s beaked whales come from such noise and from accidental entanglement in deep water nets set to catch swordfish, tuna, sharks, and other large fish.
