The pygmy right whale ( Caperea marginata ) is one of the least studied mysticete species. To shed light on its geographic and seasonal distribution, we compiled archival acoustic recordings from 26 sites across southern Australia and developed a deep‐learning detector for pygmy right whale “doublet” vocalizations. Seasonal patterns differed markedly between regions: On the southwestern shelf, detections consistently peaked be...

In the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean, there are at least five populations of pygmy blue whales, Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda , residing in the Northwest Indian Ocean (NWIO, Oman), central Indian Ocean (CIO, Sri Lanka), Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO, Madagascar to Subantarctic), Southeast Indian Ocean (SEIO, Australia to Indonesia), and Southwest Pacific Ocean (SWPO, New Zealand). Each population produces a d...

Passive acoustic monitoring is increasingly employed to monitor whales, their population size, habitat usage, and behaviour. However, in the case of the eastern Indian Ocean pygmy blue whale (EIOPB whale), its applicability is limited by our lack of understanding of the behavioural context of sound production. This study explored the context of singing behaviour using a 7.6-day biotelemetry dataset from a single EIOPB whale mo...

Documented cases of cetacean births in the wild are rare. While there are currently no direct observations of a complete humpback whale birth, they are one of the few large whale species where observers have been present during a birthing event. We compiled eye‐witnessed accounts of all known humpback whale birthing events and found nine well‐documented cases globally (three published and six “new” unpublished). In two‐thirds...

The importance of the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia as a feeding area to the pygmy blue whale of the eastern Indian Ocean was investigated to better understand migration patterns and habitat use. A combination of satellite tagging studies during 2003–2005 and acoustic and visual surveys during the austral summer of 2013 confirmed the presence of pygmy blue whales in the Subtropical Convergence Zone and provid...

Humpback whales undertake long‐distance seasonal migrations between low latitude winter breeding grounds and high latitude summer feeding grounds. We report the first in‐depth population genetic study of the humpback whales that migrate to separate winter breeding grounds along the northwestern and northeastern coasts of Australia, but overlap on summer feeding grounds around Antarctica. Weak but significant differentiation be...

Understanding the degree of genetic exchange between subspecies and populations is vital for the appropriate management of endangered species. Blue whales ( B alaenoptera musculus ) have two recognized S outhern H emisphere subspecies that show differences in geographic distribution, morphology, vocalizations and genetics. During the austral summer feeding season, the Antarctic blue whale ( B . m. intermedia ) is found in pola...