Newfoundland and Labrador
Sowerby's beaked whales

This Sowerby's beaked whale had been removed to deeper water but came back to the same place, Boyd's Cove, and died. It was one of two to strand in 2001 within 20 kilometers of each other. The first stranded in July 2001. Length 5 meters; weight 1200 kilograms.

The Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesopolodon bidens) is also known as the north sea beaked whale, a rare whale of which little is known. It is thought to be mid-ocean whale which occasionally strays inshore feeding on squid and cod.

The majority of strandings in the Western north Atlantic have occurred in Newfoundland and Labrador. Two mass strandings occurred in Newfoundland (see Newfoundland map): six sowerbys stranded in Carmanville on August 30, 1986, and three animals at Norris Point, Bay of Exploits, in September 1987. Interestingly, all strandings of the Sowerby's in Newfoundland with the exception of one have occurred in one geographic area of New World Island.

The Sowerby's is slate gray on the dorsal side and lighter gray on the ventral region. In adult males two teeth are often seen about 1/3 of the way back on the beak erupted outside the mouth. The beak is around 50 centimeters long. One onlooker said the head looks like a thermos.

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