See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231952068 All creatures great and smaller: A study in cetacean life history energetics Article in Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK · August 2007 DOI: 10.1017/S0025315407054720 CITATIONS READS 76 381 1 author: Christina Lockyer Age Dynamics 128 PUBLICATIONS 2,870 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Age estimation in marine mammals using Growth Layers in hard tissues View project Population dynamics of the Icelandic grey seal View project All content following this page was uploaded by Christina Lockyer on 30 August 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K. (2007), 87, 1035–1045 doi: 10.1017/S0025315407054720 Printed in the United Kingdom All creatures great and smaller: a study in cetacean life history energetics Christina Lockyer North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), Polar Environmental Centre, N9296 Tromsø, Norway. E-mail:
[email protected] This paper reviews some specific studies of cetacean life history energetics over the past 20–30 y that include one of the largest species, the baleen fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus, the medium-sized odontocete long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas, and one of the smallest marine odontocetes, the harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena. Attention is drawn to the decrease in longevity with size and the differences in biological parameters that reflect this and affect life history strategy and energy utilization. Data from the past whaling industry in Iceland for fin whales, the Faroese ‘grindedrap’ for pilot whales, and by-catches as well as some live captive studies for harbour porpoise have been used.