Fetal growth, birth size and energetic cost of gestation in southern right whales.

ABSTRACT: The cost of reproduction greatly affects a species' life history strategy. Baleen whales exhibit some of the fastest offspring growth rates in the animal kingdom. We quantified the energetic cost of gestation for southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) by combining whaling catch records of pregnant females with photogrammetry data on southern right whale mothers and calves from two breeding grounds in Argentina and Australia. The relationship between calf birth size and maternal length was determined from repeated measurements of individual females before and after giving birth. Fetal growth was determined from generalized linear models fitted to fetal length data from whaling operations between 1961 and 1967. Fetal length was converted to volume and mass, using the volume-to-length re

SUBMITTER: Christiansen F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9322553 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature