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Encounter frequencies and grouping patterns of narwhals in Koluktoo Bay, Baffin Island

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Abstract

The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is a deep diving cetacean with a strictly Arctic distribution. The challenges associated with the remoteness of narwhals have resulted in a lack of knowledge of its social behaviour requiring direct, systematic observations. Bruce Head, a peninsula at the mouth of Koluktoo Bay (Nunavut), provides an exceptional site in Canada for nearshore observation of narwhals during the summer. In this study, we document the movement, timing and grouping patterns of narwhals observed from Bruce Head and how they relate to environmental factors such as the tide and the circadian cycle. Narwhals travelled in clusters of 1–25 individuals of mixed sex and age class. Narwhals entered the bay in bigger clusters than when they exited it. The clusters were part of herds that comprised up to 642 clusters. Narwhal movement patterns were not randomly distributed in time but did not consistently follow the tidal or circadian cycles across years. Bruce Head could host long-term behavioural studies of narwhals to unravel several unanswered aspects of narwhal biology.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the community of Mittimatalik for welcoming us to do research on their land, N. Inuarak, A. Kublu, L. Suqslak and K. Beardsley for assistance, as well as S. Ferguson and H. Whitehead for support. We are grateful to C. Agostinelli for assistance with the circular statistical analysis, as well as P.R. Richard and M. Castellini for helpful comments on the manuscript. This research would not be possible without the logistical support of Polar Sea Adventures. Funding for this study was provided by Arctinet, Canadian Wildlife Federation, Canadian Marine Environment Protection Society, Canadian Whale Institute, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Northern Research Chair Program, Northern Scientific Training Program, and World Wildlife Fund Canada. M.M. was supported by the NSERC, the Eben Hopson Fellowship and the Lorraine Allison Scholarship and M.A.-M. by a NSERC scholarship.

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  1. Natural Resource Sciences, MacDonald Campus, McGill University, 21 111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada

    Marianne Marcoux & Murray M. Humphries

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, CW315 Biological Sciences Bldg, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

    Marie Auger-Méthé

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  1. Marianne Marcoux
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Marcoux, M., Auger-Méthé, M. & Humphries, M.M. Encounter frequencies and grouping patterns of narwhals in Koluktoo Bay, Baffin Island. Polar Biol 32, 1705–1716 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0670-x

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