期刊
MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE
卷 37, 期 1, 页码 290-313出版社
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/mms.12741
关键词
Antarctic blue whale; Balaenoptera musculus; Northern Hemisphere; pygmy blue whale; sex ratios; Southern Hemisphere
资金
- Southern Ocean Research Programme (SORP)
- Richard C. and Lois M. Worthington Endowed Professor in Fisheries Management
Deviation from equal sex ratios in blue whales can be explained by faster female growth and size-selective whaling. Despite some fluctuations in sex ratios at different locations and seasons, overall, the sex ratios remain close to equality. Males are slightly more common than females, possibly due to faster female growth and selective whaling practices.
Deviations from equal sex ratios in mammals can reveal insights into sex-specific growth, survival, movements, and behavior. We assessed blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) sex ratios based on 21,542 fetal and 311,901 whaling records, finding that males were slightly but significantly more common than females (51.3% fetal, 52.1% postnatal). Antarctic catches shifted from 52.4% male before 1951 to 48.0% male thereafter, even though larger females were preferentially targeted by whalers and should have declined. The southernmost land stations caught more males than those in southern Africa, and at land stations, sex ratios shifted subtly over the course of a year. Pelagic catches demonstrated spatial structure in sex ratios, including more males being caught in the Ross Sea. In utero, the smallest females were often misidentified as males, and there was some evidence for higher prenatal male mortality. Once born, medium-sized blue whales within each region were more often male, while the longest were nearly all female; explained entirely by females growing faster and reaching longer sizes. Overall, though, sex ratios are remarkably close to equality across time, space, and length; with any deviations best explained by faster female growth and size-selective whaling.
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