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New government marine wildlife code to help reduce dolphin disturbance

The launch today by UK Government of new guidance on how to act responsibly around...

UK government to extend ivory ban to stop the sale of orca teeth

Following the UK ban on the import, export and dealing of elephant ivory in 2022,...

Dead whale beauty products to be sold in Japanese vending machine stores

Antarctic minke whale alongside Japanese whaling ship. Photo © Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert Japanese whale hunting company,...

Arrests made following illegal whale meat smuggling from Japan to South Korea

Customs authorities in Busan, South Korea, have arrested six people for allegedly smuggling at least...

Elusive whale seen alive for the first time

A photo of an unidentified beaked whale species.

Using DNA evidence, scientists have been able to officially confirm the first live sightings of the Sato’s beaked whale.

Up to now the only Sato’s whales seen have been the few that have washed up dead and some unconfirmed reports from whale hunters. As a result, we know very little about their lives, habits, where they hang out, or their population size.

But, during the summer of 2021, researchers studying orcas in the waters between Hokkaido, Japan, and Russia’s Kuril Islands spotted 14 Sato’s whales swimming there.

At just under seven meters long, the Sato’s beaked whale  has distinctive white scars that could also tell us about their preferred habitat. According to WDC’s research fellow, Erich Hoyt, who co-authored the paper announcing the 2021 sightings these round bite marks are from cookie-cutter sharks. ‘To-date, Sato’s beaked whales have only been found around Japan and eastern Russia’, he says. ‘But cookie-cutter sharks typically frequent warmer waters, so the scars suggest the whales might be venturing to—and getting bitten in—tropical locations’.

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