Behavior
Judging by strandings, the whales occur in small groups. They probably feed on squid.
A sighting made in 1998, west of the island of Tenerife, involved three whales swimming over waters 1500 meters deep. Another small group was seen south of the island of Gran Canaria. Although timid, the whales allowed close photos. They surfaced for a short time, and their dives lasted for around an hour.
In September 2008, northeast of the island of Lanzarote, some Gervais' beaked whales were photographed breaching out of the water.
On May 5, 2011, one juvenile female specimen was found dead and beached at Playa Larga of Maunabo on the southeast corner of Puerto Rico (Caribbean Sea). The juvenile had her stomach filled with (10 pounds) of plastic bags. On July 10 of the same year, one specimen was found dead in the Yucatán Peninsula, México, further investigation is being performed to confirm the species in this case.
Read more about this topic: Gervais' Beaked Whale
Famous quotes containing the word behavior:
“Children, randomly at first, hit upon something sooner or later that is their mother’s and/or father’s Achilles’ heel, a kind of behavior that especially upsets, offends, irritates or embarrasses them. One parent dislikes name-calling, another teasing...another bathroom jokes. For the parents, this behavior my have ties back to their childhood, many have been something not allowed, forbidden, and when it appears in the child, it causes high-voltage reaction in the parent.”
—Ellen Galinsky (20th century)
“The modern world needs people with a complex identity who are intellectually autonomous and prepared to cope with uncertainty; who are able to tolerate ambiguity and not be driven by fear into a rigid, single-solution approach to problems, who are rational, foresightful and who look for facts; who can draw inferences and can control their behavior in the light of foreseen consequences, who are altruistic and enjoy doing for others, and who understand social forces and trends.”
—Robert Havighurst (20th century)
“The abdication of Belief
Makes the Behavior small—
Better an ignis fatuus
Than no illume at all.”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)