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the web of life in southern Africa

Berardius arnuxii  (Arnoux's beaked whale)

southern four-toothed whale, large beaked whale [English]; Arnoux se snoetwalvis [Afrikaans]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Synapsida (mammal-like reptiles) > Therapsida > Theriodontia >  Cynodontia > Mammalia (mammals) > Placentalia (placental mammals) > Laurasiatheria > Ferungulata > Cetartiodactyla (even-toed ungulates and cetaceans) > Whippomorpha > Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises) > Family: Ziphiidae (beaked whales) > Subfamily: Ziphiinae

This rare whale is also known as the southern giant bottlenose whale or southern fourtooth whale. It is of a deep blue grey colour, has an average length of 9 metres and weighs around 6 400 kilograms. Little is known of them other than they tend not to form large groups and that they feed on squid and other mollusca.

Text by Derek Ohland