Caperea marginata - The Pygmy Right Whale

These whales were believed to be extinct until 2012. They are the smallest of the baleen whales and are more closely related to rorquals than right whales. It was during a voyage commanded by James Clark Ross on HMS Erebus and Terror (the two ships which were famously lost when John Franklin took them into the Arctic in the quest for the Northwest Passage and rediscovered only in 2016) that bones and baleen plates were found and brought back to England, where John Edward Gray eventually established a new genus from the samples. He named the genus 'caperea', meaning wrinkled - referring to the wrinkled appearance of the ear (of all things!). The special name refers to the dark 'margins' or borders around the baleen plates that appears in some individuals. No one is going to be quick to challenge or undermine the great Gray, but really? Neither the binomial nor the common name come close to doing justice to this beautiful cetacean. 

Coming up for air

Recent research by the paleontologist Felix Marx has demonstrated that this whale is a close relative of the cetotheriidae, previously believed to have become extinct some time in the ice age more than 2 million years ago, which makes our whale a living fossil! The longest one ever seen was a female at 6.45 metres, and the longest male was 6.1 metres. There are a number of physiological features that distinguish them from other whales: they have small lungs and hearts, so they are probably not deep diving whales, they have a unique larynx, a reduced tail with what may be a vestigial pelvis and four digits on the flippers.

Very rare picture of a pod
of pygmy right whales

They are thought to be circumpolar and live only in the southern hemisphere. They are very seldom sighted but when they are, they're usually alone. They have on occasion been seen in pods, once in a  group of around 100 individuals near Australia. They are also known to associate with other whale species, including minkes and pilots, as well as dolphins and on one occasion a sei whale with a calf. At sea they have been observed fewer than 25 times. Nevertheless they are unique and wonderful, ancient animals and deserving of our affection and respect. Any thoughts on what we might call them? The picture at the top of this entry is of a whale which, in 2013, got stranded on a beach in Namibia. It was rescued and returned to the sea, and there's a video of the rescue here. A blogger recorded the event on this blog.