Field notebook
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Animal profile
Ziphius cavirostris
Cuvier's beaked whale is a robust deep-diving whale of five to seven metres with a short beak and a gently sloping forehead. Adult males are heavily scarred and bear two teeth at the tip of the lower jaw. It feeds on deep-water squid and fish and is rarely seen at the surface.
Satellite tags on Cuvier's beaked whales have logged a dive of 3 hours and 42 minutes off North Carolina, and a separate record depth of 2,992 metres off southern California. Both are the deepest and longest dives recorded for any mammal.
Satellite tags have recorded a Cuvier's beaked whale nearly 3,000 metres down off southern California, and a separate whale off North Carolina submerged for three hours and 42 minutes. They are different animals, different studies, and both far beyond the species' calculated oxygen limit.