Characterizing the Distribution and Behavior of Sperm Whales, Physeter macrocephalus, Over the Otago Submarine Canyons, New Zealand

Whitney Steidl; Marta Guerra; Tim Jowett; William J. Rayment

doi:10.1111/mms.70157

Characterizing the Distribution and Behavior of Sperm Whales, Physeter macrocephalus, Over the Otago Submarine Canyons, New Zealand

Whitney Steidl, Marta Guerra, Tim Jowett William J. Rayment

Marine mammal science, Vol.42(2), e70157

13/03/2026

: https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70157

https://hdl.handle.net/10523/50239

acoustics

behavior

distribution

ecology

marine mammal

odontocete

photo identification

Physeter macrocephalus

size structure

sperm whales

Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) play an important role in marine ecosystems as top predators, nutrient vectors, and indicators of ecosystem health. In Aotearoa New Zealand, sperm whales remain largely understudied other than at Kaikōura, a foraging area for males. This research aims to expand our understanding of this culturally important species beyond Kaikōura. Between June 2022 and July 2023, 14 visual-acoustic surveys were conducted over Otago's submarine canyons. Data were collected on the occurrence, distribution, size structure, and behavior of sperm whales around Otago, and findings were compared with data from 32 novel systematic surveys at Kaikōura during the same time period. Encounter rates were lower at Otago than Kaikōura. Length distributions were not significantly different between locations, suggesting a similar demographic visiting both locations—mainly solitary, subadult males. Metrics of foraging behavior, including surface interval and time-to-first-click, were significantly longer in Otago than in Kaikōura, suggesting that individuals may be employing different feeding strategies between locations. Photo-identification revealed site fidelity to both regions and one instance of movement between the two. This was the first study to demonstrate the potential importance of Otago's submarine canyons as a feeding area for subadult male sperm whales and demonstrate connectivity between foraging habitats in New Zealand.

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https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70157

Published (Version of record),

: 9926853098101891
: Characterizing the Distribution and Behavior of Sperm Whales, Physeter macrocephalus, Over the Otago Submarine Canyons, New Zealand
: Whitney Steidl
Marta Guerra
Tim Jowett
William J. Rayment
: Marine mammal science, Vol.42(2), e70157
: Mathematics and Statistics; Marine Science; Statistics
: Wiley
: University of Otago (New Zealand, Dunedin)
: C0003 / Coastal People Southern Skies; New Zealand Whale and Dolphin Trust
: 13/03/2026
: Copyright © The Author(s) 2026. This work was first published in Marine Mammal Science (Wiley). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed to the creator(s) and the source, is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, and a link to the Creative Commons license is provided.
: English
: Journal article