Southern right whale ( Eubalaena australis ; SRW) populations are recovering from the impacts of commercial whaling, however, recovery has been spatially variable, with strong associations between reproduction and prey availability. The diet of SRWs has not been widely examined, and with SRW foraging shifting away from high‐latitude foraging grounds dominated by krill, it is essential to understand their diet at different loca...

False killer whales ( Pseudorca crassidens ) are globally distributed cetaceans, often found in deep oceanic waters but occasionally near coastlines. Despite their broad distribution, information on their abundance, genetics, and ecology remains limited. In New Zealand waters, these whales occur year‐round, with increased sightings during the warmer months due to the East Auckland Current. This study investigates the genetic d...

Several legal acts mandate that management agencies regularly assess biological populations. For species with distinct markings, these assessments can be conducted noninvasively via capture‐recapture and photographic identification (photo‐ID), which involves processing considerable quantities of photographic data. To ease this burden, agencies increasingly rely on automated identification (ID) algorithms. Identification algori...

Reference genomes from representative species across families provide the critical infrastructure for research and conservation. The Cetacean Genomes Project (CGP) began in early 2020 to facilitate the generation of near error-free, chromosome-resolved reference genomes for all cetacean species. Towards that goal, and using the methods, goals and genome assembly quality standards of the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP), we gen...

The sub‐Antarctic waters of South Georgia Island (Islas Georgias del Sur, SG/IG) are a regularly visited feeding ground for southern right whales ( Eubalaena australis , SRW) in the southwest Atlantic. Satellite telemetry and photo‐identification records were compared to better understand the role of SG/IG in the SRW migratory network. We present the first insights from SRW satellite‐tracked from the SG/IG feeding ground, habi...

Following their near extirpation by industrial whaling of the 20 th century, the population status of Southern Hemisphere fin whales (SHFW) remains unknown. Systematic surveys estimating fin whale abundance in the Southern Ocean are not yet available. Records of fin whale sightings have been collected by a variety of organisations over the past few decades, incorporating both opportunistic data and dedicated survey data. Toget...

Changes in habitat availability and prey abundance are predicted to adversely influence survival and reproduction of wildlife in the Southern Ocean. Some populations of southern right whale (SRW; Eubalaena australis ) are showing dramatic changes in habitat use. Surveys were undertaken in the austral winters of 2020 and 2021 at the key nursery and socialising ground for New Zealand SRWs: Port Ross, Auckland Islands, with 548 e...

Southern right whales (SRW) are capital breeders that use stored energy reserves to sustain themselves and their calves on nursery areas. With successful calving events declining in some SRW populations, it has been hypothesized that nutritional stress in adult females causes reproductive failure or death of calves shortly after birth. Here we compared offsets in carbon and nitrogen isotope values of mothers and their offsprin...

The harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) is the most widely distributed pinniped, occupying a wide variety of habitats and climatic zones across the Northern Hemisphere. Intriguingly, the harbour seal is also one of the most philopatric seals, raising questions as to how it colonized its current range. To shed light on the origin, remarkable range expansion, population structure and genetic diversity of this species, we used genoty...

Rapid anthropogenic environmental change is expected to impact a host of ecological parameters in Southern Ocean ecosystems. Of critical concern are the consequences of these changes on the range of species that show fidelity to migratory destinations, as philopatry is hypothesized to help or hinder adaptation to climate change depending on the circumstances. Many baleen whales show philopatry to feeding grounds and are also c...

Historically, the range of the southern right whale ( SRW ) included winter calving grounds around the North and South Islands (mainland) of New Zealand ( NZ ) and in the NZ subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands. Due to extensive whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries, no SRW was seen around mainland NZ for nearly four decades (1928–1963). Here we present evidence for the regular use of the mainland NZ wintering ground, p...

The identification and characterization of reproductively isolated subpopulations or ‘stocks’ are essential for effective conservation and management decisions. This can be difficult in vagile marine species like marine mammals. We used paternity assignment and ‘gametic recapture’ to examine the reproductive autonomy of southern right whales ( Eubalaena australis ) on their New Zealand (NZ) calving grounds. We derived DNA prof...