Search

The article focuses on the world's rarest cetaceans, known as the pygmy killer whale or Feresa attenuata, and its resemblance to killer whale or Orcinus orca as examined by Japanese researcher Munesato Yamada. It presents the relation to Delphinidae family as reported by Robin Baird, biologist at the Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, Washington. It states the behavior and protection of population of pygmy killer whale in Hawaii as suggested by Robert Brownell, cetacean expert with the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego, California.

The article reports on the debate over the cause of the mass whale-stranding in Hanalei Bay, Hawaii on July 3, 2004. A probe was formed in order to study such incident in which hundreds of melon-headed whales rushed into the shores of Hanalei, and was initially believed to have occurred due to a U.S. Naval sonar. A report on another group of whales stranding in another Pacific island Rota on the same date, however, has linked the behavior to lunar cycles.