{"id":438,"date":"2018-08-02T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/02\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/"},"modified":"2019-11-22T22:38:08","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T22:38:08","slug":"sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual dimorphism in toothed whales: which are the differences between male and female cetaceans?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The
\nodontoceti is a suborder that includes all the cetaceans (whales and dolphins)
\nwith teeth. In general, this group looks to follow the mammalian pattern of
\nincreasing sexual dimorphism with the increasing of body size. For example, the
\nsperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus<\/i>)
\nis the largest toothed whale and the cetacean with a bigger sexual dimorphism
\n(different characteristics in males and females of the same specie). <\/span><\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n


<\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n
<\/span><\/span>
\nToothed
\nwhales present very few secondary sexual characteristics and are not very
\nevident  – males are bigger than females
\nand in some families there are differences in the number of teeth and size of
\nthe dorsal fin. Although in most of the
\ncases is almost impossible to distinguish a male from a female dolphin in wild
\nlife<\/b>, unless there is a clear view of the genital area.  The bottlenose dolphins, the common dolphins,
\nAtlantic spotted dolphins and Risso\u2019s dolphin are some of the examples. Males
\nhave two slits, the long one is the genital slit and the smaller one is the houses
\nthe anus. In females there is a continuous slit that are both the genital and
\nanus slit and two mammary slits.<\/span><\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSome
\nexamples:<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\nOrca (Orcinus orca<\/i>)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 dorsal fins of males can reach up
\nto 2 m and in females only 1 m. In females the fin is slightly curved and in
\nmales completely vertical.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nPilot whale (Globiceplala spp.<\/i>)\u2013<\/span><\/b> males can have a more swollen head
\nwith better defined melon. The dorsal fin in males is strongly hooked and very
\nlong-based.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nBeaked whales (Ziphiidae family)\u2013<\/span><\/b> It is the second biggest group in the cetacean
\nworld and is the more mysterious one. In this group there is 21 species and all
\nof them are different but in general only in males the tusks come out from the
\ngums and females and juveniles are toothless. Only in a few species we can see functional
\nteeth in both sexes.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSometimes we can also distinguished
\na male from a female because of their behaviour. Just like us, cetaceans
\npresent a really strong bond between mother and calf, so when we see a baby is
\nalways associated with a female (no necessary the mother).  In sperm whales, for example, females live in
\ngroups with juveniles (males and females) and calves, adult males live solitary
\nlives. So, in our tours when we see a baby we know immediately that the individual
\nassociated is a female. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nBibliography<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nSHIRIHAI, Hadoram. Whales, Dolphins and Seals<\/i>: A Field
\nGuide to the Marine Mammals of the world: Bloomsbury, 2006. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nhttps:\/\/dolphins.org\/maternity<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/seagrant.uaf.edu\/marine-ed\/mm\/fieldguide\/cetaceans.html<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n


<\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\nWritten by In\u00eas Coelho<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The odontoceti is a suborder that includes all the cetaceans (whales and dolphins) with teeth. In general, this…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[8,154,256,257,40],"yoast_head":"\nSexual dimorphism in toothed whales: which are the differences between male and female cetaceans? - Azores Whales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sexual dimorphism in toothed whales: which are the differences between male and female cetaceans? - Azores Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The odontoceti is a suborder that includes all the cetaceans (whales and dolphins) with teeth. In general, this…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Azores Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-02T09:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-22T22:38:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/golfinhosaC3A7ores.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"348\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"244\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Azores Whales\",\"description\":\"Azores Whale Watching Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/golfinhosaC3A7ores.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/golfinhosaC3A7ores.jpg\",\"width\":348,\"height\":244},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/\",\"name\":\"Sexual dimorphism in toothed whales: which are the differences between male and female cetaceans? - Azores Whales\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-02T09:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-22T22:38:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c4e17ba0d78db15bcf2fa76aa3fc5ac8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sexual-dimorphism-in-toothed-whales\/#webpage\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c4e17ba0d78db15bcf2fa76aa3fc5ac8\",\"name\":\"azwhales\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be196191820a99b250b57dc8ecb79906?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be196191820a99b250b57dc8ecb79906?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"azwhales\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21458,"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions\/21458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}