Name : True's Beaked Whale
Scientific Name : Mesoplodon mirus
Class : Mammalia (Type) - Beaked whale
Family : Ziphiidae
Order : Cetacea (suborder) - Odontoceti
Shape : Slightly bulging forehead with slight indentation at blowhole with dark patch around each eye.
Fins : Flippers low down on body and can be tucked away in 'pocket' on underside. Pockets are only visible when a stranded animal can be examined closely. Grey upper sides and undersides of flippers. Flukes darker than rear third of body.
Length : Adults measure between 4.9 - 5.3 metres and newborns measure 2.3 metres.
Weight : Adults weigh between 1 - 1.5 tons and the newborns 136 kg.
Colour : Dark grey or bluish-grey back with mottled grey on underside, and brownish-yellow tints. The rear third of the body is white or light bluish-grey.
Diet : Octopus.
Population : There may be 2 forms of this species; the best-known one lives in the North Atlantic, the other is found in parts of the southern hemisphere.
Habits : Has never been positively identified at sea. Scratches and scars on back and sides indicate fighting between males. Likely to be deep diver.
Distribution : Believed to be found only in the North Atlantic until a specimen was discovered along the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa in 1959.
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