Gray's Beaked Whale - Behavior

Behavior

The Gray's beaked whale is very gregarious. It has a tendency to strand in large groups, once involving 28 individuals. Other strandings involved five to eight animals. The upper teeth may be used in holding prey, but it is not clear why only this species has them.

The Gray's beaked whale is said to be the most common species of whale to beach in New Zealand. Two whales that stranded themselves on Opape Beach in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, in December 2010 were initially thought to be Gray's beaked whales, but later found to be the incredibly rare spade-toothed whale.

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