Ecological Indicators (2017)
Concentrations of thirty two polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in the blubber of five sympatric species of odontocetes stranded or by-caught along the Northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula: common…
Coming of age: Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment?
Kesselring, Tina; Viquerat, Sacha; Brehm, Ralph; Siebert, Ursula
PLOS ONE (2017)
The harbour porpoise is the only cetacean species native to German waters. Since human pressures are suggested to shorten their reproductive lifespan, basic knowledge on reproduction is strongly required. One…
Directional acoustic wave manipulation by a porpoise via multiphase forehead structure
Zhang, Yu; Song, Zhongchang; Wang, Xianyan; Cao, Wenwu; Au, Whitlow W. L.
Physical Review Applied (2017)
Porpoises are small-toothed whales, and they can produce directional acoustic waves to detect and track prey with high resolution and a wide field of view. Their sound-source sizes are rather…
Ultrasonography of mammary glands in finless porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis) at different reproductive stages
Zeng, Xianyuan; Huang, Shiang-Lin; Hao, Yujiang; Wang, Ding; Ji, Junhua; Deng, Xiaojun; Nabi, Ghulam
Marine Mammal Science (2017)
...The Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis), endemic to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the adjoining Poyang and Dongting lakes (Gao and Zhou 1993), is…
Comparative physiology of vocal musculature in two odontocetes, the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)
Thometz, Nicole M.; Dearolf, Jennifer L.; Dunkin, Robin C.; Noren, Dawn P.; Holt, Marla M.; Sims, Olivia C.; Cathey, Brandon C.; Williams, Terrie M.
Journal of Comparative Physiology B (2017)
The mechanism by which odontocetes produce sound is unique among mammals. To gain insight into the physiological properties that support sound production in toothed whales, we examined myoglobin content ([Mb]),…
The evolution of genital shape variation in female cetaceans
Orbach, Dara N.; Hedrick, Brandon; Würsig, Bernd; Mesnick, Sarah L.; Brennan, Patricia L. R.
Evolution (2017)
Male genital diversification is likely the result of sexual selection. Female genital diversification may also result from sexual selection, although it is less well studied and understood. Female genitalia are…
Comparison of dolphins’ body and brain measurements with four other groups of cetaceans reveals great diversity
Ridgway, Sam H.; Carlin, Kevin P.; Van Alstyne, Kaitlin R.; Hanson, Alicia C.; Tarpley, Raymond J.
Brain, Behavior and Evolution (2016)
We compared mature dolphins with 4 other groupings of mature cetaceans. With a large data set, we found great brain diversity among 5 different taxonomic groupings. The dolphins in our…
Comparative anatomy of the bony labyrinth of extant and extinct porpoises (Cetacea: Phocoenidae)
Racicot, Rachel A.; Gearty, William; Kohno, Naoki; Flynn, John J.
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (2016)
The inner ear anatomy of cetaceans, now more readily accessible by means of nondestructive high-resolution X-ray computed tomographic (CT) scanning, provides a window into their acoustic abilities and ecological preferences.…
Ultra-high foraging rates of harbor porpoises make them vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance
Wisniewska, Danuta Maria; Johnson, Mark; Teilmann, Jonas; Rojano-Doñate, Laia; Shearer, Jeanne; Sveegaard, Signe; Miller, Lee A.; Siebert, Ursula; Madsen, Peter Teglberg
Current Biology (2016)
The question of how individuals acquire and allocate resources to maximize fitness is central in evolutionary ecology. Basic information on prey selection, search effort, and capture rates are critical for…
Organization of the sleep-related neural systems in the brain of the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)
Dell, Leigh-Anne; Patzke, Nina; Spocter, Muhammad A.; Siegel, Jerome M.; Manger, Paul R.
Journal of Comparative Neurology (2016)
The present study provides the first systematic immunohistochemical neuroanatomical investigation of the systems involved in the control and regulation of sleep in an odontocete cetacean, the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena).…