Despite frequently stranding, little is known about free‐ranging long‐finned pilot whales ( Globicephala melas edwardii ) in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This study used long‐term data to determine the occurrence, seasonal site‐fidelity, group size distribution and individual identity of pilot whales off the east coast of New Zealand. Photographs ( n = 53,857) and sightings metadata from 81 pilot whale groups were collected opportuni...

The behaviour and spatial use patterns of juvenile manta rays within their critical nursery habitats remain largely undocumented. Here, we report on the horizontal movements and residency of juvenile reef manta rays ( Mobula alfredi ) at a recently discovered nursery site in the Wayag lagoon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we provide further corroborative evidence that the lagoon serves as an impor...

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a “Green List of Species” (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species’ progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement aga...

Reconstruction of the demographic and evolutionary history of populations assuming a consensus tree‐like relationship can mask more complex scenarios, which are prevalent in nature. An emerging genomic toolset, which has been most comprehensively harnessed in the reconstruction of human evolutionary history, enables molecular ecologists to elucidate complex population histories. Killer whales have limited extrinsic barriers to...

The conservation status of New Zealand (NZ) marine mammals (suborders Cetacea and Pinnipedia) is reappraised using the 2008 version of the NZ Threat Classification System. The list comprises 56 taxa (named species or subspecies, and as yet unnamed forms or types) in the following categories: Threatened—eight taxa (five Nationally Critical and three Nationally Endangered); Vagrant—six taxa; Migrant—20 taxa; and Data Deficient—1...

Analysis of photographs of individual bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) taken in Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand between 2000 and 2003 resulted in 162 uniquely identifiable individuals being included in the Hauraki Gulf bottlenose dolphin photo‐identification catalogue. Seventy percent of these catalogued animals were sighted more than once, with sighting frequency ranging from one to eleven encounters. Seasonality was apparen...