Wl'KSlCKTAl..: HKHAVK )K OK BOWIIKAD WHALKS 



whales evade males in Argentine waters (Payne and 

 Dorsey 1983). A photograph showing a remarkably 

 similar mating group of right whales is shown in the 

 article by Payne (1976). The fact that similar-looking 

 social aggregations are seen in both species argues 

 for a similar social system, although it does not show 

 that the social systems are similar in all details. 



Female right whales have young only at intervals 

 of 3 yr or more (Payne, pers. obs.). The same appears 

 to be true of bowheads (Davis et al. footnote 9; 

 Nerini et al. 1984). This long calving interval may 

 help to explain why bowhead and right whales have 

 not made as dramatic a recovery from commercial 

 exploitation as has, for example, the gray whale. 

 Payne also found that right whale females that calve 

 along the shore of southern Argentina in winter are 

 usually not present in the years between calving. 

 Each winter, a different segment of the population of 

 mature females is present, in a 3-yr cycle. It is not 

 known whether this cycling extends to the summer 

 feeding grounds of these right whales. During the 

 present 3-yr study, year-to-year variation in feeding 

 and social behavior was dramatic, but we do not 

 know whether this was due in part to some cyclic and 

 synchronized activity of individual whales. We 

 suspect that variable prey distibution was largely 

 responsible. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This project, including preparation of this paper, 

 was funded by contracts from the Bureau of Land 

 Management and the Minerals Management Service, 

 U.S. Department of the Interior, to LGL Ecological 

 Research Associates. We thank the Polar Continen- 

 tal Shelf Project of the Department of Energy, 

 Mines, and Resources (Canada) for logistical help. 

 Dome Petroleum Ltd. and Esso Resources Canada 

 Ltd. shared data and assisted with logistics. 

 NORCOR Engineering and Research Ltd. provided 

 the Islander aircraft, and J. Merilees was its capable 

 pilot. Personnel of the Beaufort Weather Office were 

 helpful. K. Finley, P. Tyack, and R. Wells helped 

 with aerial observations. K. Hazard, G. Silber, S. 

 Taber, P. Thomas, and M. Wiirsig collected data 

 from Herschel Island. C. Greene of Polar Research 

 Laboratory set up the sonobuoy system. S. Heimlich- 

 Boran prepared the illustrations of bowheads in this 

 paper. J. Bird, L. Guinee, and V. Rowntree of the 

 New York Zological Society, and C. R. Evans, R. 

 Wells, and M. Wiirsig assisted with data analysis. H. 

 Braham provided helpful suggestions on an earlier 

 draft. We thank all of these organizations and in- 

 dividuals. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Batschelet, E. 



1972. Recent statistical methods for orientation data. In S. 

 R. Galler, K. Schmidt-Koenig, G. J. Jacobs, and R. E. Belle- 

 ville (editors), Animal orientation and navigation, p. 61-91. 

 NASA SP-262, Natl. Aeronaut. Space Admin., Wash., 

 D.C. 



BOGOSLOVSKAYA, L. S., L. M. VOTROGOV, AND T. N. SEMENOVA. 



1981. Feeding habits of the gray whale off Chukotka. Rep. 

 Int. Whaling Comm. 31:507-510. 

 Braham, H. W., B. D. Krogman, and G. M. Carroll. 



1984. Bowhead and white whale migration, distribution, and 

 abundance in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas, 1975- 

 78. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS SSRF-778, 

 39 p. 

 Braham, H., B. Krogman, J. Johnson, W. Marquette, D. Rugh, 

 M. Nerini, R. Sonntag, T. Bray, J. Brueggeman, M. 

 Dahlheim, S. Savage, and C. Goebel. 

 1980. Population studies of the bowhead whale {Bakierwi mys- 

 ticetus): results of the 1979 spring research season. Rep. 

 Int. Whaling Comm. 30:391-404. 

 Braham, H. B. Krogman, S. Leatherwood, W. Marquette, D. 

 Rugh, M. Tillman, J. Johnson, and G. Carroll. 



1979. Preliminary report of the 1978 spring bowhead whale 

 research program results. Rep. Int. Whaling Comm. 29:291- 

 306. 



Brown, R. 



1868. Notes on the history and geographical relations of the 



Cetacea frequenting Davis Strait and Baffin's Bay. Proc. 



Zool. Soc. Lond., 35:533-556. 

 Carroll, G. M., and J. R. Smithhisler. 



1980. Observations of bowhead whales during spring migra- 

 tions. Mar. Fish. Rev. 42(9-10):80-85. 



Dahlheim, M., T. Bray, and H. Braham. 



1980. Vessel survey for bowhead whales in the Bering and 

 Chukchi Seas, June-July 1978. Mar. Fish. Rev. 42(9-10):51- 

 57. 

 Darling, J. D. 



1977. Aspects of the behavior and ecology of Vancouver 

 Island gray whales, Eschrichtius glaucus Cope. M.S. Thesis, 

 Univ. Victoria, 200 p. 

 Davis, R. A., and W. R. Koski. 



1980. Recent observations of the bowhead whale in the 

 eastern Canadian High Arctic. Rep. Int. Whaling Comm. 

 30:439-444. 

 Dorsey, E. M. 



1983. Exclusive adjoining ranges in individually identified 

 minke whales (Balaewyptera acutorostrata) in Washington 

 state. Can. J. Zool. 61:174-181. 

 Durham, F. E. 



1972. Greenland or bowhead whale. In A. Seed (editor). 

 Baleen whales in eastern North Pacific and arctic waters, p. 

 10-14. Pacific Search Press, Seattle, WA. 



EVERITT, R. D., AND B. D. KROGMAN. 



1979. Sexual behavior of bowhead whales observed off the 

 north coast of Alaska. Arctic 32:277-280. 



Fay, F. H. 



1963. Unusual behavior of gray whales in summer. Psychol. 

 Forsch. 27:175-176. 



FRAKER, M. a., and J. R. BOCKSTOCE. 



1980. Summer distribution of bowhead whales in the eastern 

 Beaufort Sea. Mar. Fish. Rev. 42(9-10):57-64. 



Gould, J. L. 



1982. Ethology, the mechanisms and evolution of behavior. 

 W. W. Norton & Co., N.Y. 544 p. 



375 



