Ziphiidae
Northern Bottlenose Whale
H. ampullatus
Near ThreatenedGenus
Hyperoodon
The bottlenose whales — sociable, curious deep divers whose curiosity made the northern species a whaling target into the 1970s.
2
species
About Hyperoodon
Hyperoodon contains two species, one in each hemisphere, distinguished by a bulbous melon that grows squarer and more overhanging with age, dramatically so in mature males. Unlike most beaked whales they are inquisitive around vessels and will approach and remain with a stationary boat.
That behaviour, together with a habit of standing by injured companions, made the northern bottlenose whale an unusually easy target once Norwegian and British fleets turned to it in the 1880s. Hunting continued until 1973 and removed a large fraction of the North Atlantic population. The species shows strong site fidelity to particular submarine canyons — the best-studied group lives year-round in the Gully off Nova Scotia — which concentrates both the research and the risk.
