>I am looking for info on the pygmy right whale. Do you know where i
can find 

>good sources


Caperea (pygmy right whale) is the least known of the mysticetes. A
concise review with a bibliography is contained in <italic>Handbook of
Marine Mammals</italic>, Vol. 3. Chapter 12 by Alan Baker, Ridgway &
Harrison, eds. 1985. Some new information hs been obtained since then
including a couple of live sightings at sea.


Photos of live caperea have been taken by Koji Matsuoka
(<smaller>Survey Division, The Institute of Cetacean
Research</smaller>, Tokyo) and the vet department of the South
Australia Museum.


A couple of articles appeared in <italic>Marine Mammal
Science</italic>, the journal of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. One
in particular was a on vocalizations. Use a search engine for Society
for Marine Mammalogy which easily gets you the URL. Once on the
homepage, go to the secion that indexes the journal.


Below I am including the un-edited text from an upcoming field guide on
marine mammals of the world. Since the book is not due out until early
2001, this should not be cited or referenced without caution.


Cheers,


Pieter Folkens

Alaska Whale Foundation


excerpt from The National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of
the World, by Pieter Folkens, in press (C) 2001.


Pygmy Right Whale

<italic>Caperea marginata</italic>, (Gray, 1846)


general description/distinctive chrs:	

thought to be long and slender like finner whales with  a right
whale-like mouth, however, more recent observations at sea indicate a
more rotund body; head comprises less than 25% of the body and has a
moderately-arched mouthline and a small medial ridge from just forward
of the blowholes forward towards the tip of the rostrum; 2 shallow
throat grooves; narrow flippers with rounded tips; falcate dorsal fin
set slightly more than 2/3rd back; may exhibit slight reverse sexual
dimorphism with females a bit larger than males

coloration: generally darker grey dorsally and lighter grey on the
sides transitioning to almost white ventrally with strokes of various
shades of grey in chevrons akin to the markings on finner whales and
unlike the flat dark skin of true right whales.


life history m/f:

birth/	sexual 		physial 		

neonate	maturity	averages	maturity	maximums

m 160-220 cm, ~2 m	.		5.47 m		>6.09 m

			2,850 kg			4,500 kg

f	<<6.0 m		5.53 m		6.21m		6.45 m

							3,200 kg


age/life span: unknown


qualifiers: 	

poorly known with very few specimens actually measured; most data is
from strandings and limited observations at sea; Caperea are likely to
be larger and heavier than the data suggests; average weight is based
on a 5.47 m male and a 6.21 m female that were actually weighed.


can be confused with: 	

minke whales (<italic>B. acutorostrata</italic>): rostrum is flatter
and straighter (no arch)

beaked whales: have much smaller heads and wider dorsal fin bases


feeding behavior & prey items:

Skimmer for small zooplankton, principally copepods (99.9%), and a few
amphipods; the finer baleen fringes is best suited for very small prey,
especially copepods.

	

behaviors:	 

assumed solitary or in pairs sometimes among an extend group of 5 to 8
animals spread over about 5 square kilometers, but a herd of about 80
was recorded south of Western Australia;

behavior is not well known because it is seldom seen at sea; the dorsal
fin does not always appear when surfacing and its small size results in
a correspondingly small and indistinct blow; does not exhibit
conspicuous surface behaviors such as breaching, pectoral fin slapping,
and tail lobs; non migratory except for seasonal movements associated
with prey abundance and upwelling


reproduction:

very little known; an increased coastal occurence of juveniles in
spring (October-November); concentrations of adults in feeding areas
without calves in November; and stranded or captured pregnant females
from June to December suggests a calving period around March to May
with an inshore movement post weaning, or it may simply have an
extended breeding season.


mouth parts:	

baleen:  yellowish with a dark brown marginal band on the external edge
and fine soft dark bristles, 213-230 narrow plates on each side-5 to 7
times longer than wide, up to 70 cm long, maximum width at base 10 cm;
plates, the greatest number of bristles per baleen plate at about 80
per cm; the specific name, marginata, stems from the dark marginal band
on the baleen


affinities:

 unclear

	

distribution:	

restricted to the circumpolar Southern Hemisphere temperate waters
between about 31°S and 52°S, within sea surface isotherms of 5-20°C

stranded records include Buenos Aires, Argentina; the Falkland Islands;
Cape Province, South Africa; Western Australia to 32°S; South
Australia; Victoria, New South Wales at 34°54'S; Tasmania, and both
main islands of New Zealand; two specimens taken at sea in the South
Atlantic in November and December at 33°40'S, 00°56'E, and 32°56'S,
12°42'E; and sightings at 42°S, 116°E, in November about 780 km south
of Western Australia.


status:	. 

IUCN: insufficiently known

Protected under IWC moratorium and CITES

--------------------------------


photo notes:

Koji Matsuoka & Luis Pastene (ct. 30 + video)-head and DF shots best
available

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