Roadless Areas
Home/Species/ Cuvier's Beaked Whale

Ziphius cavirostris

G. Cuvier, 1823

Cuvier's Beaked Whale

G4Apparently Secure Found in 1 roadless area NatureServe Explorer →
G4Apparently SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102568
Element CodeAMAGA03010
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
CITESAppendix II
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassMammalia
OrderCetacea
FamilyZiphiidae
GenusZiphius
Other Common Names
Baleine à bec de Cuvier (FR) Zifio de Cuvier (ES)
Concept Reference
Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (editors). 1993. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. xviii + 1206 pp. Available online at: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/.
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2016-04-05
Change Date1996-11-15
Range Extent Comments
Worldwide in all ocean basins from tropical to subpolar waters. Seldom seen alive; known mainly from occasional stranded specimens. Stranded specimens have been recorded from Cape Cod and the North Sea south to Tierra del Fuego and the Cape of Good Hope in the Atlantic, and from the southern Bering Sea south to Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific (the most frequently sighted medium-sized cetacean in the eastern tropical Pacific). Also Mediterranean, Caribbean, Sea of Japan, and Indian Ocean. May be a resident population off of North Carolina.
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Generally but not always in deeper, offshore tropical and temperate waters, usually outside the 1000 m contour (Houston 1991).

Ecology

Solitary (adult males) or usually in tight schools of 3-10, sometimes as many as 25 (Leatherwood and Reeves 1983). In the eastern tropical Pacific, group size was 1-7 (IUCN 1991).

Reproduction

Smallest sexually mature individuals are a little over 5 m long, at which size males are apparently about 11 years old.
Other Nations (2)
CanadaN5
ProvinceRankNative
British ColumbiaSUYes
United StatesNU
ProvinceRankNative
OregonSNAYes
FloridaSNRYes
New YorkSUYes
North CarolinaS2NYes
TexasS1Yes
MarylandSNAYes
South CarolinaS4Yes
GeorgiaSNRNYes
AlaskaS3Yes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
5 - Biological resource use——High (continuing)
5.4 - Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources——High (continuing)
8 - Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases——High (continuing)
8.2 - Problematic native species/diseases——High (continuing)
9 - Pollution——High (continuing)
9.4 - Garbage & solid waste——High (continuing)
9.6 - Excess energy——High (continuing)
11 - Climate change & severe weather——Moderate - low
11.1 - Habitat shifting & alteration——Moderate - low

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Roadless Areas (1)
Oregon (1)
AreaForestAcres
TenmileSiuslaw National Forest10,818
References (11)
  1. American Society of Mammalogists (ASM). 2025. Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.13) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10595931. Online. Available: https://www.mammaldiversity.org/
  2. Falklands Conservation. 2000. Falkland Islands wildlife. Falklands Conservation. http://www.falklands-nature.demon.co.uk/wildlife/chklst.html
  3. Foley, H. J. 2018. Spatial ecology and movement patterns of deep-diving odontocetes in the western North Atlantic ocean. M.S. Thesis. Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, N.C. State University, Raleigh, NC.
  4. Houston, J. 1991. Status of Cuvier's beaked whale, <i>Ziphius cavirostris</i>, in Canada. Canadian Field-Naturalist 105:215-218.
  5. IUCN (World Conservation Union). 1991. Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the World: the IUCN Red Data Book. M. Klinowska (compiler). IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, United Kingdom. viii + 429 pp.
  6. Leatherwood, S., and R. R. Reeves. 1983. The Sierra Club handbook of whales and dolphins. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco. 302 pp.
  7. Pacheco, V., H. de Macedo, E. Vivar, C. Ascorra, R. Arana-Cardó, and S. Solari. 1995. Lista anotada de los mamíferos peruanos. Conservation International, Washington, DC.
  8. Rice, D. W. 1998. Marine mammals of the world: systematics and distribution. Society for Marine Mammalogy, Special Publication Number 4. ix + 231 pp.
  9. Stanistreet, J., D. P. Nowacek, S. Baumann-Pickering, J. T. Bell, D. M. Cholewiak, J. A. Hildebrand, L. E. Hodge, H. B. Moors-Murphy, S. M. Van Parijs and A. J. Read. 2017. Using passive acoustic monitoring to document the distribution of beaked whale species in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 74:2098–2109.
  10. Tirira, D. 1999. Mamíferos del Ecuador. Museo de Zoología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito.
  11. Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (editors). 1993. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. xviii + 1206 pp. Available online at: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/.