On 19 Nov 2003, it was reported that scientists had announced they had
identified a new species of whale caught near Japan. Please complete
the sentence "Scientists have identified ___ new species of whale
since 19xx" where 19xx = any year between 1903 and 1953 and ___ = the
number identified since that year. Provide two corroborating
references for ___. Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 26 Dec 2003 03:06 PST

Shikibobo --

There's a current debate over whether orca whales are one or several
distinct species, which became more visible with the U.S. District
Court ruling last week which supported the LEGAL view that Northern
Residents and Southern Residents of the Puget Sound are distinct. 
These two populations are also apparently distinct from so-called
transient orcas, which live in the Pacific Ocean waters west of the
Puget Sound.  The animals are so distinct that some eat only fish;
some only mammals (sea lions, other small whales):
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/display.html?ID=750

Google search strategy:
Washington + orcas + court

How do you want to handle these issues of legal versu scientific definition?

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by shikibobo-ga on 26 Dec 2003 06:18 PST

In reply to the request for clarification, scientific classifications
please. General agreement is OK - you can ignore any legal squabbles
or areas of debate. For my purposes, the figure you provide does not
need to be the final word, just documented. Thank you.

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Clarification of Question by shikibobo-ga on 26 Dec 2003 12:37 PST

Thank you omniscientbeing for the Comment. I understand the
distinction you pointed out. In fact, if I remember right, the "new"
whale announced Nov 2003 was based mainly on the examination of whales
caught in the 1970s. But with whales being as large and conspicuous as
they are, the fact that *any* new species are still being identified
is remarkable. Still looking for a number... thanks.

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Clarification of Question by shikibobo-ga on 06 Jan 2004 13:56 PST

Thanks to Steve Webster of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Jim Dines of
the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for their assistance
in this matter.

shikibobo-ga,

While this is not intended to be a definitive answer, the number of
new species of whales discovererd in the last 50-100 years is
certainly less than 10, most likely less than 5. As large "megafauna,"
whales have been easy to spot for centuries, and whalers identified
most species hundreds of years ago. Also, since they are mammals and
must surface to breathe, that makes them easy to spot as well. Certain
large fish species, such as the Megamouth shark, have been discovered
in the last 50 years, but these are deepwater species.

Most new whale species "discovered" in the last 50 years will not
literally be whales never seen before, but just animals that we have
learned new physiological or genetic facts about which warrant a
re-classification of their nomenclature and systematics.

Google search strategy:

"new whale species":

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=new+whale+species

Hope this helps,

omniscientbeing-ga

P.S. Happy Holidays!