Physical Description
The two species have very similar features and would be indistinguishable at sea if they did not exist in disjoint locations. Arnoux's is generally shorter. Estimated lengths of live Arnoux's at sea have been up to 12 m (39 ft), but all dead specimens have been considerably smaller. The Baird's, on the other hand, have been confirmed to grow to 12–13 m (39–43 ft). The weight is up to 14,000 kg (31,000 lb).
Both whales have a very long prominent beak, even by beaked whale standards. The lower jaw is longer than the upper and the front teeth are visible even when the mouth is fully closed. The melon is particularly bulbous. The body shape is slender - the girth is only 50% of length. The body is uniformly coloured and a particular individual's colour may be anything from light grey through to black. The flippers are small, rounded and set towards the front of the body. The dorsal fin similarly is small and rounded and set about three-quarters of the way along the back. Both species pick up numerous white scars all over the body as they age and may be a rough indicator of age. There is little sexual dimorphism in either species.
Read more about this topic: Giant Beaked Whale
Famous quotes containing the words physical and/or description:
“Let us hope ... that by the best cultivation of the physical world, beneath and around us; and the intellectual and moral world within us, we shall secure an individual, social and political prosperity and happiness, whose course shall be onward and upward, and which, while the earth endures, shall not pass away.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The great object in life is Sensation—to feel that we exist, even though in pain; it is this “craving void” which drives us to gaming, to battle, to travel, to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)