Beaked Whale Stranding Events in Pacific Islands (1950–2023)

About

Beaked whales are a group of deep diving whales with a world-wide distribution that consists of six genera and 24 identified species. Many species of beaked whales are rarely observed alive at sea and almost all biological data for the most poorly described species is based on stranding events. We examined beaked whale strandings across the western, central and southern Pacific, an area of more than 40 million square kilometers that encompasses island nations and territories in Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. Confirmed strandings of beaked whales include specimens that represent five different species.