What do Cuvier’s beaked whales look like?

The Cuvier’s beaked whale is one of the larger members of the beaked whale family. The body is torpedo-shaped and robust; the back and sides are dark grey and the belly and head are much lighter. In older males the head and much of the back is white. In some locations, their bodies appear brownish because they are covered in algae. They have panda-like dark rings around each eye.

They also have ‘scars’ from their rather active lifestyle. They have white circular scars all over their bodies; bites from cookie-cutter sharks! Males also have lots of scars made by the teeth of other males during fights.

Cuvier’s have a cone-shaped head, with a stubby beak and two throat grooves. The short mouth-line curves upwards and looks like a smile. They have a small dorsal fin positioned two-thirds of the way back on the body. The flippers are relatively small and the tail flukes are large. Males have only two teeth at the tip of the lower jaw and they often protrude like small tusks in older males. Females don’t have any visible teeth.

What’s life like for a Cuvier’s beaked whale?

Cuvier’s beaked whales are seen in groups of two to seven individuals and often alone. Although their groups tend to be small like all toothed whales they are very social. Cuvier’s live far out to sea where they make long, deep dives searching for squid during both day and night. Since they don’t have teeth to grip their prey, Cuvier’s use a suction method to feed; they slurp and suck squid into their mouths!

Cuvier’s are hard to find because they live in deep water and spend only short periods at the surface to breathe. They do breach occasionally in some parts of the world such as Hawaii, but often they rest motionless near the surface and their small blows are not easy to spot. Cuvier’s sometimes raise their tail flukes above the water which helps them dive steeply down.

Males fight over females; they use their teeth as weapons and they have numerous tooth-rake scrapes and scars on their head and back to prove it.

What do they eat?

They love squid and eat at least 47 different species. They also occasionally eat fish and crustaceans.

Where do they live?

Cuvier’s beaked whales are the most widespread beaked whale. They live in deep offshore waters in all oceans of the world except for the Arctic and high latitudes of the Antarctic.