Whales Of the Southern Hemisphere - Arabian Sea Whale Network

WHALES OF SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE: BIOLOGY, WHALING, PERSPECTIVE OF POPULATION RECOVERY
by Yuri Mikhalev Yuri Mikhalev WHALES OF SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE: BIOLOGY, WHALING, PERSPECTIVE OF POPULATION RECOVERY Annotation This monograph examined distributions and migrations patterns of whales of
Southern Hemisphere. The presence of new kind of killer whales in
Antarctic is proved - Orcinus nana. Unique data about whales of Arabian
Sea are presented. Separate populations are defined on basis of phenes.
Prenatal growth patterns are determined. Methods for graphical recording of
registering structures are developed, and an original method for their
decoding is proposed to determine animal age. Age of sexual and physical
maturity is determined. Earlier unknown "pair formations" on lower jaw of
baleen whales and sperm whales are described. Their macro, histological
and electronic microscopic structure are described. Influence of extermination of whales on Antarctic ecosystem was examined.
Recommendations for control of current state of whale populations are
given, and perspectives of whale population recovery are estimated.
Regions, which can be used as testing areas for whale registration method,
are defined.
The book is intended for biologists-cytologist, ecologists and other
specialists interested in cetaceans, and also for students of biological
departments.
CONTENTS 1 Historical review of whaling 15 1.1 Whaling in the Antarctic and nearby waters 18 1.2 Periods of whaling 19 1.3 Attempts to regulate whaling 20 1.4 Characteristics of the Soviet time whaling 23 2 Analysis of the correlation between whale length and weight 31 2.1 Review of previous research studies 32 2.2 Theoretical basis of the method 33 2.3 Correlation between prenatal length and weight of whales 33 2.4 Correlation between postnatal length and weight of whales 41 3 General growth laws 51 3.1 A brief review of theories of growth of superior vertebrates 51 3.2 Prenatal growth of cetaceans 51 3.3 Features of individual growth of embryos 60 3.4 Relative growth of body parts and changes in morphological structure
of cetacean embryos 63 3.5 Postnatal growth of whales 66 4 Biology of reproduction of cetaceans 75 4.1 Age of sexual maturity 75 4.2 Definition of sexual maturity by aural plugs "transphase" 77 4.3 Definition of the average size of newborns 80 4.4 Correlation between the females and their newborns size 83 4.5 Period of pregnancy, peaks and phase of mating and calving 86 4.6 Lactation and duration of lactation period 87 4.7 Reproductive capacity of whales 94 5 Whale distribution 98 5.1 Distribution and migrations of baleen whales 98 5.2 Distribution and migrations of toothed whales. 101 5.3 Characteristics of the migration of different groups of whales 102 5.4 Determining differences between whale populations 103 5.5 Whales of the northwest part of the Indian ocean 109 6 Antarctic ecosystem status and perspectives on whale population recovery
128 6.1 Structure and productivity of communities in the Antarctic Region 128 6.2 Place and role of Cetaceans in the Antarctic ecosystems 129 6.3 Changes in the Antarctic ecosystems related to catches of large
species of baleen whales 130 6.4 An intraspecific competition and problems of population recovery in
large species of baleen whales 133 6.5 Perspective of whale population recovery 134
|MARINE MAMMAL |[pic] |????? ?? ??????? |
|COUNCIL | |????????????? |
|36 Nachimovsky av. | |??????, 117851, ??????, |
|117851, Moscow, Russia | |??????????? ??-?. 36 |
|Tel (fax): 7-495-1247579 | |Tel (fax): 7-495-1247579 |
| | | |
|E-mail: mmc@ocean.ru | |http://2mn.org |
Marine Mammal Council (Russia) examined the book "Whales of the
Southern Hemisphere: biology, whaling and perspectives of population
recovery" by doctor of biology, professor of anatomy and physiology
department of State Pedagogical University (Odessa, Ukraine) Yuri Mikhalev,
and concluded that the book is about a very important issue and contains
high level scientific researches, and believes the book should be
published. Yuri Mikhalev is a member of the Council, and he works in the area of
whale biology more than 40 years (since 1964). He took part as a scientific
group member in 6 cruises of Soviet whaling fleets "Slava", "Sovetskaya
Ukraina", "Yuri Dolgoruky" and scientific-research boat "Bodry-25". Before
starting his pedagogical carrier he was a chief of sea mammal laboratory in
Odessa branch of AzCherNIRO. Based on huge amount of scientific data he
published more than 100 papers. His first thesis was about biology of
Antarctic fin whale reproduction (Scientific Council of All-union Institute
of Sea Fishery and Oceanography, Moscow, 1972). Two doctorate theses were
about biology of whales of Southern Hemisphere (specialty "environment
protection and rational use of nature resources", Scientific Council of
Institute of Ecology Problems and Evolution, Russian Academy of Science,
Moscow, 1997, and "zoology", Scientific Council of Institute of Zoology,
National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Kiev, 2005). He was awarded with
150-years of Antarctica discovery medal for his research of Antarctic
cetaceans. Yuri Mikhalev was actively struggling against illegal catches of
whales and falsification of scientific data by whaling fleets authorities.
He did a lot to save real whaling data that government was trying to
destroy and hide from public. Since 1994 he is an independent expert of Scientific Committee of
International Whaling Commission (IWC). The presented book is not a compilation of other scientists'
researches. No, it includes only issues that were studied by the author
himself. Nevertheless, while arguing with other researchers, many sides of
whaling in the Southern Hemisphere as well as whale distribution, laws of
growth, biology of reproduction and recovery capability are deeply examined
in the book. Also it analyzes the influence of whale killing on Antarctic
ecology and forecasts perspectives of whale population recovery. The book
has recommendations on control over current state of whale schools and it
offers the regions of World Ocean that could be used as research areas for
improving scientific methods of whale counting. Solutions by Yuri Mikhalev
of many issues are original, and they, as well as his hypotheses, provoke
discussions, and even because of this the book could be useful for
specialists as well as for beginners. I believe it could be read with
interest even by pubic that are interested in biology of these specific
animal species - cetaceans. Chairman of the Council, Member-correspondent of Russian Academy of Science
[pic] A. V. Yablokov
1 Acknowledgments For my formation as a biologist I am obliged to the chair of zoology of
the Kishinev state university under the direction of highly skilled
zoologists - the rector of university and managing chair of zoology Victor
Sergeevich Chepurnov, the dean of biological faculty Magda Sadykovich
Burnashev and the professor in charge of our course Lyudmila Viktorovna
Chepurnova. I am grateful to destiny that during my externship on
AzCherNiRo (the Azovo-Black Sea scientific research institute of fish
economy) vessels she introduced me to Yury Petrovich Altukhov
(subsequently the director of the USSR AS Institute of genetics), in co-
authorship with whom my thesis on jack mackerels of Black sea was
published. I have kept warm memoirs about the director of L.S. Berg museum of the
Kishinev university Alexandra Matveevna Didusenko. Like all other graduates
of our chair, who went different corners of the Soviet Union, I considered
it my duty to supply the museum with new exhibits. Cooperation with
Aleksandra Matveevna lasted for many long years. And I was extremely
touched, having received the letter from her daughter with mournful news,
in which she informed me that some hours prior to Alexandra Matveevna's
death she wrote to me that sees me the next director of the museum. It was
Alexandra Matveevna who recommended me for work in the Odessa AzCherNiRo
laboratory (later transformed into the Odessa VNIRO branch on whaling, and
after that into AzCherNiRo Branch). And I am sincerely grateful to the
director of this laboratory Arcady Vasilevich Krotov, who sent me to the
whaling flotilla scientific group, and after defending my master's thesis
appointed me the head of the laboratory of sea mammals. Arcady Vasilevich
was a quick-witted person with delicate humour and great life experience.
Conversations with him on the chessboard have taught me a lot. During the Odessa period of life I have had luck to form my views under the
influence of great people and scientists : head of a zoology chair of
I.I. Mechnikov university professor Ivan Ivanovich Puzanov ("last
Encyclopaedist of 20th century") and outstanding geneticist Alexander
Aleksandrovich Malinovsky: they desperately struggled against
"lysenkovschina", the governmental biological ideology of that time. I have highly appreciated our conversations-consultations with the most
outstanding cytologist: professor Avenir Grigorevich Tomilin, professor
Vyacheslav Alekseevichem Zemsky and especially with a correspo