AI Article Synopsis
- Several sperm whale mass strandings occurred in the North Sea in early 2016, leading to the necropsy of twelve whales found on German shores.
- The study utilized high-resolution CT imaging to analyze the morphological variations in the whales' cochleae, discovering inter-individual differences and classifying them into two distinct clusters based on their external shapes.
- The findings indicate that variations in cochlea shape may be related to geographical factors and social structures (bachelor schools), highlighting the need to understand these anatomical differences for effective conservation, particularly in light of increasing noise pollution impacts on cetaceans.
Article Abstract
Several mass strandings of sperm whales occurred in the North Sea during January and February 2016. Twelve animals were necropsied and sampled around 48 h after their discovery on German coasts of Schleswig Holstein. The present study aims to explore the morphological variation of the primary sensory organ of sperm whales, the left and right auditory system, using high-resolution computerised tomography imaging. We performed a quantitative analysis of size and shape of cochleae using landmark-based geometric morphometrics to reveal inter-individual anatomical variations. A hierarchical cluster analysis based on thirty-one external morphometric characters classified these 12 individuals in two stranding clusters. A relative amount of shape variation could be attributable to geographical differences among stranding locations and clusters. Our geometric data allowed the discrimination of distinct bachelor schools among sperm whales that stranded on German coasts. We argue that the cochleae are individually shaped, varying greatly in dimensions and that the intra-specific variation observed in the morphology of the cochleae may partially reflect their affiliation to their bachelor school. There are increasing concerns about the impact of noise on cetaceans and describing the auditory periphery of odontocetes is a key conservation issue to further assess the effect of noise pollution.
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|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5404505 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep46734 | DOI Listing |
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