To learn more about these enigmatic animals \u2013 without needing to see or tag them \u2013 the researchers eavesdropped on the whales to pinpoint where they are. “To conduct acoustic tracking, we deployed specialised underwater listening systems on the seafloor off the coast of Louisiana at approximately 1,100m depth,\u201d says Frouin-Mouy.<\/p>\n
Sensors recorded the\u00a0echolocation<\/a>\u00a0clicks, which enabled the scientists to make 3D reconstructions of the whales\u2019 movements. “By measuring small differences in the arrival times of clicks across individual sensors, we estimated the direction of sound sources,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n They recorded three different species of beaked whale<\/a>: goose-beaked, Gervais\u2019 and Blainville\u2019s. It\u2019s possible to differentiate each species by their clicks \u2013 in the same way that you might use birdsong to\u00a0identify\u00a0different species \u2013 so the researchers could map out the behaviour of each of them based on their vocalisations. <\/p>\n This is the first time the deep-diving behaviour of a Gervais\u2019 beaked whale has been described in detail.<\/p>\n Goose-beaked whales seemed to spend longer on foraging dives (around 20 minutes) compared with Blainville\u2019s beaked whales (nearly 14 minutes) and Gervais\u2019 beaked whales (just under 13 minutes). <\/p>\n Goose-beaked whales also plummeted almost or all the way down way to the seafloor to forage \u2013 perhaps unsurprising given that this species, also known as Cuvier\u2019s beaked whale, is the\u00a0deepest-diving mammal<\/a>\u00a0on the planet. The findings are published in the journal\u00a0PLOS One<\/a>.<\/p>\n The data revealed that the different species seemed to be foraging at different depths, which suggests they feed on different prey items.\u00a0<\/p>\n “This interpretation is consistent with stomach content analyses showing that goose-beaked whales prey on larger cephalopods<\/a>, which are typically found at greater depths than the prey of other beaked whale species,\u201d says Frouin-Mouy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even when we don\u2019t see these whales interacting with us in the water, humans can have a huge impact. Researchers believe that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 caused beaked whale populations to decline by as much as\u00a083 percent<\/a>. This striking statistic \u201cunderscore[es] the urgent need to better understand these elusive species and the threats they face,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n![\"Cuvier's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Cuviers-beaked-whale.jpeg\")
A goose-beaked whale (or Cuvier\u2019s beaked whale) cruises just under the surface after having taken a breath. Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Fisheries, Permit #21938), CC0<\/p>\n![\"Acoustic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Acoustic-tracking-of-goose-beaked-whales-scaled.jpeg\"){kind=tracking}
Illustration showing a goose-beaked whale emitting an echolocation click while foraging, with the sound waves reaching hydrophones on acoustic recorders at different times. This time difference allows estimation of the whale\u2019s 3D position and reconstruction of its dive profile during foraging. Credit: Dr. H\u00e9lo\u00efse Frouin-Mouy, CC-BY 4.0<\/p>\n