These groups tend to live in open ocean areas, and are occasionally visited by males who range widely across the oceans. Sperm whales are native or seasonally present in the following countries and territories: Albania; Albania; Algeria; Angola; Antarctica; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Australia; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belgium; Belize; Benin; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Cameroon; Canada; Cape Verde; Chile; China; Colombia; Comoros; Costa Rica; Croatia; Curaçao; Cyprus; Denmark; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); Faroe Islands; Fiji; France; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Gibraltar; Greece; Greenland; Grenada; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Kenya; Kiribati; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Lebanon; Liberia; Libya; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Malta; Marshall Islands; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Monaco; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Nauru; Netherlands; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Niue; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Portugal; Russian Federation; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Sao Tomé and Principe; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Slovenia; Solomon Islands; Somalia; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Syrian Arab Republic; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Turkey; Tuvalu; United Kingdom; United States; Uruguay; Vanuatu; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Vietnam; Yemen. Jacobsen, J.K., L. Massey, and F. Gulland. Among several regions, such as along coastal waters of southern Australia, sperm whales have been considered to be locally extinct. While they are usually found in deep, off-shore waters, sperm whales may be seen closer to shore in areas where there are small continental shelves that drop quickly to depths of 310 to 920 meters (1,020, to 3020 ft). These photos are used to monitor individuals’ movements over time, estimate local population size and understand the social structure and population dynamics of the groups that are studied5-7. Visit the most recent stock assessment report to view population estimates for sperm whales in U.S. waters. Fully mature males return to the warmer waters where the females are found in order to mate, sometimes spending only a few minutes or hours with a group before moving on again1,4. Sperm whales are native or seasonally present in the following countries and territories: Albania; Albania; Algeria; Angola; Antarctica; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Australia; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Ba… The best estimate of worldwide sperm whale population is between 300,000 and 450,000 individuals. Sperm whales are listed on Appendix 1 of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). Sperm whales are the largest toothed cetacean. Like killer whales, they are one of the only mammal species other than humans, in which females continue to live and play a role in family/social groups after they have stopped producing calves. Sperm whales were historically heavily hunted, and today are globally designated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species2. The famous 19th century novel, Moby Dick, featured a sperm whale, and was based on the experiences of ‘Yankee whalers’ that roamed the world’s oceans hunting whales from small open boats in the 1800’s. The latter is thought to be one of the main drivers of sperm whale population decline in the Mediterranean18,20,21, and a major threat to survival of sperm whales in the Canary islands17,19. Sperm whales form highly stable social groups based around related females and their offspring. Sperm whales generally feed at depth in search of their preferred prey which consists of a variety of squid species, including the giant squid, Architeuthis. Gkikopoulou. Only males tend to be observed closer to the poles beyond approximately 40° S or 40° N1,2. The 2020 biennial Commission meeting of the IWC will be held at the Grand Bernardin Resort, Portoroz, Slovenia, The 2021 meeting of the IWC Scientific Committee will be held in Bled, Slovenia. Sperm whales are found in deep open waters, or around islands and coastal areas with deep canyons or very narrow continental shelves. Female sperm whales almost exclusively eat squid while males have been documented to prey on bottom dwelling fish, including sharks, rays, cod and hake1. The size of most large baleen whales, they actually have teeth on their bottom jaw, used to grasp large squid or fish, unlike other large whales that filter smaller denser prey through their baleen. Sperm whales were mainstays of whaling's 18th and 19th century heyday. The sperm whale population is known to be denser close to continental shelves and canyons. Di Natale, A. and G. Notarbartolo-di-Seiara. Although both sexes range through temperate and tropical oceans and seas, only adult males populate higher latitudes. Sperm whales in some parts of the world have a unique response to attacks, gathering into a ‘marguerite’ or wagon wheel formation – in which all members of the group position themselves with their heads in the centre and their tails facing outward like the spokes of a wheel. Sperm whales face a number of threats today, including entanglement in fishing gear12-14, ingestion of fishing gear and marine debris15,16, and ship strikes17-22. Females, however, stay with their family unit of 4-21 individuals and help to care for young in the group until they are mature enough to have their own calves. Killer whales have been observed attacking sperm whale pods, and large sharks are also thought to be potential predators of calves.

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