Killer whale (Orcinus orca) predation on dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) in Kaikoura, New Zealand

Occurrence Observation
Latest version published by Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node on Jul 24, 2024 Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node
Publication date:
24 July 2024
License:
CC-BY 4.0

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Description

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are known to prey on a wide variety of marine mammal species, including large and small cetaceans, as well as pinnipeds (Jefferson et al. 1991). No well-documented records of killer whales feeding on dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) have been reported in the literature. Wursig and Wursig (1980) reported one second-hand account of pre-dation on dusky dolphins off Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. Accounts of killer whales preying on other species in the genus Lagenorhynchus are also infrequent (Dahlheim and Towel1 1994), especially given that these animals are both regularly observed in similar habitats. We present accounts of four killer whales preying on dusky dolphins over a period of 11 d off Kaikoura, New Zealand (42°25'S, 173°42'E).

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 18 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

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How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Constantine R, Visser I, Buurman D, Buurman R, McFadden B (2024). Killer whale (Orcinus orca) predation on dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) in Kaikoura, New Zealand. Version 1.0. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Occurrence dataset. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=nz_orca_dusky&v=1.0

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 8d79909b-f99e-4bb1-a007-d5a78524bf88.  Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Ocean Biodiversity Information System.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation

Contacts

Rochelle Constantine
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Researcher
School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland
  • Private Bag 92019
Auckland
NZ
Ingrid Visser
  • Originator
  • Researcher
School of Environmental and Marine Sciences, University of Auckland
  • Private Bag 92019
Auckland
NZ
Dennis Buurman
  • Originator
  • Researcher
Dolphin Encounter
  • 68 West End
Kaikoura
NZ
Rik Buurman
  • Originator
  • Researcher
Dolphin Encounter
  • 68 West End
Kaikoura
NZ
Brent McFadden
  • Originator
  • Researcher
New Zealand Sea Adventures
  • Beach Road
Kaikoura
NZ
Kevin Mackay
  • User

Geographic Coverage

Kaikoura, New Zealand

Bounding Coordinates South West [-42.7, 173.533], North East [-42.4, 173.85]

Taxonomic Coverage

Killer whales and dusky dolphins

Species Orcinus orca (Killer whale), Lagenorhynchus obscurus (Dusky dolphin)

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 1995-11-04 / 1995-11-14

Sampling Methods

The attacks by killer whales reported here were observed during research surveys and commercial swim-with-wild-dolphin tours operating out of Kaikoura.

Study Extent Kaikoura, New Zealand

Method step description:

  1. During four days, between 4 and 14 November 1995, four adult killer whales (two males and two females) were observed to chase, and on seven occasions kill, dusky dolphins (Table 1). The four killer whales involved were first photo identified in the Kaikoura area in 1988 using their saddle patches and nicks on their dorsal fins. They have been photo identified near Kaikoura on a number of occasions since then. The animals are referred to in this report by their catalog numbers: NZ 39 (female), NZ 40 (male), NZ 41 (male), and NZ 42 (female).

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Constantine, R., Visser, I., Buurman, D., Buurman, R. and McFadden, B. (1998), KILLER WHALE (ORCINUS ORCA) PREDATION ON DUSKY DOLPHINS (LAGENORHYNCHUS OBSCURUS) IN KAIKOURA, NEW ZEALAND. Marine Mammal Science, 14: 324-330. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.1998.tb00721.x

Additional Metadata

marine, harvested by iOBIS

Alternative Identifiers https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=nz_orca_dusky