It is hard to guess what a Cuvier’s beaked whale weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) on average weights 4772.5 kg (10521.55 lbs).
The Cuvier’s beaked whale is from the family Ziphiidae (genus: Ziphius). They can live for up to 36 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 9.8 cm (0′ 4″). Usually, Cuvier’s beaked whales have 1 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
Cuvier’s beaked whale or the goose-beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), the only member of the genus Ziphius, is the most widely distributed of all the beaked whales. It is one of the most frequently seen beached whales, despite preferring deep pelagic waters, usually deeper than 1,000 m (3,300 ft).The species name comes from Greek xiphos, “sword”, and Latin cavus, “hollow” and rostrum, “beak”, referring to the indentation on the head in front of the blowhole.
Animals of the same family as a Cuvier’s beaked whale
We found other animals of the Ziphiidae family:
- Hubbs’ beaked whale bringing 3400 kilos (7495.71 lbs) to the scale
- Stejneger’s beaked whale bringing 4800 kilos (10582.18 lbs) to the scale
- Tropical bottlenose whale bringing 2200 kilos (4850.16 lbs) to the scale
- Gervais’ beaked whale bringing 5600 kilos (12345.87 lbs) to the scale
- True’s beaked whale bringing 2100 kilos (4629.7 lbs) to the scale
- Andrews’ beaked whale bringing 2600 kilos (5732.01 lbs) to the scale
- Pygmy beaked whale with a size of 3.72 meter (12′ 3″)
- Strap-toothed whale bringing 1500 kilos (3306.93 lbs) to the scale
- Berardius bringing 11390 kilos (25110.62 lbs) to the scale
- Southern bottlenose whale bringing 3000 kilos (6613.86 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Cuvier’s beaked whale
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Ziphius cavirostris:
- Stejneger’s beaked whale with a weight of 4800 kilos (10582.18 lbs)
- Steller’s sea cow with a weight of 4000 kilos (8818.48 lbs)
- African forest elephant with a weight of 4750 kilos (10471.95 lbs)
- Gervais’ beaked whale with a weight of 5600 kilos (12345.87 lbs)
- Common minke whale with a weight of 5588.55 kilos (12320.63 lbs)
- African bush elephant with a weight of 3882.27 kilos (8558.93 lbs)
- Killer whale with a weight of 5629.17 kilos (12410.18 lbs)
Animals with the same litter size as a Cuvier’s beaked whale
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Cuvier’s beaked whale:
- Brown fur seal
- Thomas’s mosaic-tailed rat
- White-eared titi
- West Caucasian tur
- Ribbon seal
- Sooty mangabey
- Thorold’s deer
- Pallid bat
- Preuss’s red colobus
- Banana pipistrelle
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Cuvier’s beaked whale
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Cuvier’s beaked whale:
- Ryukyu flying fox with an average maximal age of 31 years
- Harp seal with an average maximal age of 42 years
- Bobcat with an average maximal age of 32.33 years
- Pagai Island macaque with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Ribbon seal with an average maximal age of 31 years
- Collared mangabey with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Malayan tapir with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Spotted seal with an average maximal age of 35.5 years
- Walrus with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Bactrian camel with an average maximal age of 40 years