BODY SCARRING ON CETACEA-ODONTOCETESCHARLES McCANN
8 Kiwi Street, Heretaunga, H. V., New Zealand

ABSTRACTAn attempt is made to give some interpretation to the numerous andvarious scars found on the exterior of Odontocetes. Some of the scars are theresult of male contests; firstly, in play, establishing superiority, inter se, between
young males, and secondly, in the more serious combats to establish final
mastery in anticipation of the breeding season for possession of an harem. Other
causes of scarring are also discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Opinions vary in attempts to explain the cause or causes of scars frequently visibleon the body of the various species of Odontocetes. The scars may be ascribed tomultiple factors, such as: parasites, epizoans, predators (other cetaceans, sharks
and perhaps seals) and most of all to play and combat inter se. Dealing with thelast mentioned factors first, it is important to consider the behaviour pattern ofeach species and the differences between the sexes and the type of armament (teeth)in each species. A consideration of the play and battle scars is a good indicationof the extent of pugnacity exerted by the males of the species.
Most of the Odontocetes live in small or large schools. The size of the school
varies largely with the annual cycles of breeding, feeding, and migration. Similar
patterns are observable among land animals, as, Bovidae and other gregarious mammals; even among the primates (monkeys).
Bulls (males) engage in much combat inter se: at first the young in play,without inflicting much serious bodily harm, but with advancing age and eventual
sexual maturity, the play turns to greater violence and increase of scarring-it is
no longer sparring. It is in the young male schools that the future master bulls
establish their superiroity over all other bulls and finally become the prospective
masters to challenge the ruling masters and fight to the finish or the vanquishedbreaks off thF fight, perhaps, if not too badly wounded, to return to the fray atsome dista1 · ture or perish on the waves. In the case of an old master, once
he is defeated 1-i.e may survive for a while and lead a solitary existance, or succumb
to his wor
The form of the scars varies with the violence of the attacks and the extent
of contact of _,_1e teeth made at the time of impact. Many of the scars appear tohave been ugly wounds originally. Frequently, the wounds appear to be restricted
to the depth of the blubber alone, but deeper wounds result in fractured ribs anddamaged internal organs. Sometimes multiple fractures appear on the same rib
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McCANN

when skeletonised. The fractures not being of the same age show the enduranceof the animals.
In considering the various forms of scars it is essential to refer to the dental
characters, food and enemy cycles. Few Odontocetes can open the mouth widely,hence the size of the food is restricted or of soft consistancy. This observation
appears to have some bearing on the form of the battle scars, as we shall haveoccasion to note.
All illustrations showing body scarring were drawn by me.

PHYSETERIDAE: (Figs. 1 and 2)
Both the genera in the Physeteridae have markedly undershot jaws containing
grasping teeth in the mandibles alone: when corresponding teeth are developedin the maxillae, they are invariably abortive and functionless. The food consists
almost entirely of cephalopods-animals with a slimy gelatinous texture. The
sharp teeth in the mandibles form a most efficient set of grasping teeth against theFig. 1. Physeter catodon Linn.
dorca crassidens Owen.

Fig. 2.

Kogia breviceps Blainville.

Fig. 3.

Pseu-

corresponding sockets in the maxillae left by the ' absent ' teeth. The tongue isrelatively short. Another remarkable feature of the family is the greatly enlarged
head with its enormous ' sac ' of spermaceti, particularly in the Sperm Whale, Physetercatodon Linn.

Physeter catodon Linn. (Fig. 1)
The enormous head of the Sperm Whale occupies almost one third of thetotal length of the animal. It is provided with the cushion of spermaceti, a waxy
looking substance already referred to. To speculate, this 'cushion' functions as
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a shock-absorber when the animal uses its head as a battering ram in offence anddefence. In addition, the array of large teeth serve as weapons of defence andoffence, and their function as grasping organs in dealing with the large slitherycephalopods (particularly, the Giant Squid) which form a large proportion of thefood of Sperm Whales.
In dealing with some of the larger cephalopods, there seems to be a suspicion
that the Sperm uses its head to pummel the squids after grasping them with its
jaws (the fleeing squid, going backwards as is its wont, would be grasped by its
tentacles). Evidence of battles with large cephalopods is impressed on the facial
region of the Sperms. The use of the head as a battering ram is well authenticatedin literature.
The use of the teeth in sparring and more serious battles inter se is exhibitedby the linear scars on the head and body of opponents.

Kogia breviceps Blainville (Fig. 2)
The Pigmy Sperm Whale is similar in some respects to the true Sperm Whale,
but it lacks the greatly exaggerated head. However, it possesses a small sac of
spermaceti which very likely serves a similar function to that met with in the larger
Sperm Whale. Its food consists largely of cephalopods. The sharp teeth in thelower mandibles only play role of grasping organs and of weapons of offence anddefence. Dental scars appear on both the head and body of the combatants. The
jaws appear to be used 'pigwise ', the scaring depending on the number of teeth
making contact at the time of impact.
DELPHI.NIDAE: (Figs. 3-10)
The Delphinidae are all provided with large or small teeth in both jaws, inboth sexes: the number and size vary according to the species. In some species
the anterior- and posterior-most 1-4 teeth are frequently unerupted. This peculiarity may lead to a variation in the field count. The form of teeth is a fair indicationof the food-mainly fish and cephalopods; the larger species, such as the Killer
and False Killer Orcinus (PI. I) and Pseudorca supplimenting their diet with larger
animals -seals, oceanic birds and chunks torn out of other whales.
Delphinids cannot open the mouth very widely hence true biting is limited
when faced with large objects (i.e. biting dog-fashion). However, dental scars, ofno great depth, are frequently visible, inflicted by an opponent's teeth in ' play 'or combat. These scars represent the dentition of one side of the lower jaw (mandible) only, they vary in number according to the number of teeth that madecontact at the time of the impact. The movement of the jaw is somewhat likethat of a pig when attacking an opponent. This form of scar is frequently seenon the head and body of stranded animals (males): Tursiops, Grampus, Lagenorhynchus,
Delphinus, Cephalorhynchus, Pseudorca, Globicephala, and Orcinus.
It is well-known that the delphinids are far more gregareous and 'playful'than most other cetaceans; also, that many of the species are capable of high speeds,
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148

Fig. 4. Grampus griseus Cuvier.
Orcinus orca Linn.

Fig. 5.

Globicephala melaena (Smith).

Fig. 6.

-· ·· ...

.

Fig. 7.'·_.ff" .

::..~_:_./~~-,- .

,....-'

Fig. 7. Tursiops truncatus Montagu. Fig. 8. Delphinus delphis Linn. Fig. 9.
Lagenorhynchus obscurus (Gray). Fig. 10. Cephalorhynchus hectori Breneden.

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avoiding collision and attacks, but likewise capable of inflicting wounds on one
another whether in ' play ' or sexual combat. Scars arising form other causes, suchas epizoans and external parasites, are not frequent with delphinids, this may beascribed to the high speed which enables the surface of the body to remain clean.

ZIPHIDAE: (Figs. 11-22)
Scarring is more prevalent and pronounced among the ziphioids than thedelphinids. This marked difference between the two families may be explainedby the peculiarity of the dentition; smaller schools and slower speed than delphinids. Smaller schools undoubtedly give rise to a greater competion for the masteryof the harem., particularly, during the breeding period. Ziphioid males alone

Fig. 11. :(,iphius cavirostris Cuvier.
Berardius arnouxi Duvernoy.

Fig. 12.

Hyperodon planifrons Flower.

Fig. 13.

erupt specialized teeth for defence and offence. Teeth are found in the corresponding positions in females as those of the male but they are small- and unerupted.
However, there is one exception to this general rule, Tasmacetus, which, in addition
to the enlarged paired teeth possesses a series of smaller teeth (delphinidwise) inboth maxillae and mandibles. Occasionally, one might find rudimentary teeth
in the maxillae which are not embedded in the bone: example Mesoplodon.
In addition to the forms oflinear scarring on males of Ziphidae descirbed above,
ziphioids carry other forms of scarring common to both sexes. The commonest
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Mc CANN

forms of scarring being oval, elliptical or even circular. These white scars are to
be seen on almost any part of the head or body, including the flukes and flippers,
but they are most concentrated in the vicinity of the anal and genital regions.
These scars appear to be inflicted by prolonged attachment of some stercophagous
epizoans, such as, sucker-fish (Remora) or crustaceans. Some of the circular scars
may be attributed to lampreys or hag-fish, however, the last mentioned I would
regard as parasites. That the culprets which inflict the scars are seldom, if ever,(I have never come across them) taken still adhering to the carcases of stranded
individuals is quite understandible. (Hag-fish will be attracted to a carcase
during the process of cutting it up, if in a suitable depth of water.) The relatively
slower speed of ziphioids evidentally permit of prolonged attachment of these creatures to the whales, sufficently long to scar the delicate texture of the whale ' skin '.
I have examined many such scars and found that there was no evidence of themhaving penetrated to any great depth below the skin.
To the forms of scars described above attention must be drawn to scars inflicted by the jaws of large fish (sharks) marine mammals (seals?) and some of
the larger Delphinidae, such as Killer Whales (Orcinus).

Fig.140,,:"'"'·'~·~·:..·,:)/·,;";,,,·.·.·.·~~~=---

Fig.15

Fig. 14. Mesoplodon ginkgodens Nishiwaki & Kamiya (After Nishiwaki et al.,1972). Fig. 15. Berardius bairdi Stejneger (After Omura et al., 1955).

:C,iphius cavirostris Cuvier
This almost cosmopolitan species, like so many males in the family Ziphidae,
is virtually toothless except for a pair of defensive in the mandibles, erupted in
the males alone used in sparring or battling with other males. The corresponding
in the females are usually abortive and remain unerupted. The males appear tobe very pugnacious inter se if one may draw conclusions from the numerous scars
inflicted on each other by rival males. The scars appear as parallel wheals indiSci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst.,
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eating, in the case of ,Ziphius, that both teeth make contact together normally. The
wheals are often of considerable length Pl. VI, fig. 2 and Pl. VII, fig. 1.
The food consists largely of squids. The tongue and palate are sufficently
roughened with small papillate projections to secure the soft, slithery textures, suchas cephalopod's.

MESOPLODON: (Pl. VI, fig. 2 and Pl. VII, fig. 1)
Excepting M. mirus, which has its defensive teeth at the extremity of the mandibles, like ,Ziphius, all the other species have the defensive teeth at the side of themandibles. Accordingly, I presume that M. mirus alone of the Mesoplodon would
inflict parallel scars on its opponent. Unfortunately, the only good photographI have does not show any scarring. The other member of the genus: Mespolodon
gervaisi, grayi, layardi, stejnegeri, densirostris and ginkgodens inflict single linear scars
at a time on their opponents.

. .. .-•"'·"·>'·•·>-··.·=--~··,.······~:··

Fig. 16. Mesoplodom gervaisi (Deslongchamps). Fig. 17. Mesoplodon mirus True.
Fig. 18. Mesoplodon grayi Haast. Fig. 19. Mesoplodon layardi Gray. Fig. 20.
Afesoplodon densirostris Blainville. Fig. 21. Mesoplodon stejnegeri True.

HYPERODON:There are two known species in the genus. The males of the species possessa single tooth at the extremity of the mandible, in some respects it resembles thatof ,Ziphius, but may be distinguished from it by its larger size and somewhat different
shape. Under the circumstances, I would expect similar parallel scarring but I
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Mc CANNhave not seen either of the animal in the flesh nor have I seen suitable photographs
showing the scars. However, I presume there would be a greater distance between
the lines in Hyperodon than in Ziphius.
As the female ziphioids seldom carry 'battle scars' it may be concluded thatthe males alone do all the fighting and in the melee may, perhaps, scar a female
accidently, which happened to be in the way.
The position of the ' battle-teeth ' in the mandibles and their shape varies
from species to species: the teeth may be at or near the extremity of the mandibles: between the extremity of the mandibles and the symphysis, or, yet again,
nearer the angle of the gape: The wheals made by the ' battle-teeth ' are almost
characteristic of the species. The species with the ' battle-teeth' at the extremityof the mandibles produce long or short single or double parallel scars equel to the
distance between the teeth, as in the case of Ziphius cavirostris, Mesoplodon mirus
and Hyperodon spp. Species with single teeth in each mandible at, or posterior to
the symphysis inflict deep snort or long linear scars; parallel scars may occasionly
appear by accident-Mesoplodon grqyi, M. layardi and others produce linear scars.
Then there is Berardius with two teeth in each mandible, one large anterior
one and a smaller one a few centimeters behind. Close examination of the carcaseof B. arnouxi and illustrations of the Japanese, B. bairdi resulted in the observationthat parellel scars do not appear to be inflicted by the two anterior teeth as in thecase of Ziphius, however, parallel scars appear which are made by both the teethof the same mandible, with this difference: the anterior tooth makes a larger anddeeper rip than the smaller: the parallel distnace between the scars being muchless than the distace between the two anterior teeth alone. This indicates that
Berardius fights in much the same manner as do the side-toothed Mesoplodon.
Finally, there is Tasmacetus. I have already drawn attention to its peculiar
dention. It is a rare species and no suitable specimens nor photographs havecome my way to make suitable observations on the scarring met with in this species.

BERARDIUS: (Fig. 15, Pls. IV and V)
There are two known species of Berardius.

The males of Berardius unlike themales of other ziphoids possess two defensive teeth in each mandible: one large
tooth followed by a smaller one, a short distance to the rear of the leading tooth.
Reading the scars as they appear on the males of the individuals, three different
patterns of scarring are made: a) parallel rips made by the two leading teeth alone,similar to those observed in the case of Ziphius: b) parallel scars, one more pronounced than the other, and closer together than those made by the leading teeth.
This second form of parallel scarring is produced by the two teeth of the one mandible raking the body of the opponent at the same time, independently of the second
mandible-" pigwise ". In addition to these parallel scars, single linear scars
may be seen gouged out by the leading tooth of one mandible alone. Further,scars similar to the segment of a wheel with short spokes, appear above and below
along the ventral and dorsal margins of the caudal region. These scars appear
to be inflicted large sharks or Killer Whales.
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BODY SCARRING ON ODONTOCETES153

TASMACETUS: (Fig. 22)
This curious ziphioid is rare and little is known of it. Unlike any otherziphioid T asmacetus possesses functional teeth in both upper and lower jaws inaddition to the defensive teeth usually present in the mandibles alone. Oliver(1937) records 19 teeth in each maxilla and 26 (27) teeth in each mandible plus
one large defensive tooth bringing the total number of teeth up to 93. (Mesoplodon grayi has been known to produce rudimentry teeth in the maxillae occasionally. Such teeth have no sockets but are merely imbedded in the 'gums'.)

..·

·~:

~=__,_.,~ 'i\'Fig. 22.

Tasmacetus shepherdi Oliver.·

Under the circumstances I would suspect that the defensive teeth at the exextremity of the mandibles produce similar parallel scars as do other ziphioids
with similarly positioned defensive teeth. In addition, I would suspect that following teeth would produce smaller scars, perhaps similar to some of those madeby some delphinids. At the moment the subject must remain speculative.

PLATANISTIAE: (Fig. 23)
This small but curious family of cetaceans embraces three genera, the distribution of which is no less curious: lnia (Amazons), Pantaporia (River Plate) and
Platanista (largest rivers of India, including Pakistan: Ind us, Ganges and Bramaputra ). In all cases the animals inhabit the muddy estuaries. In response to
the opacity of the muddy environment, the members of the family have little orno v1s10n. Many other adaptations have been evolved but their discussion here isbeyond the scope of this paper. I will restrict my comments to the Indian species,
because of the recent work done on the species by Japanese workers and my personal knowledge of some of the terrain of the species. However, I must confessthat I have only seen skulls but not an animal in the flesh.

PLATANISTA:A characteristic of Platanista is its prolonged maxillae and mandibles provided
with numerous grasping teeth, like Delphinus. These sharp teeth, like those ofDelphinus and Lagenorhynchus, leave scars similar to the series visible on the headSci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst.,

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Mc CANNand body of the two species mentioned above whether made in ' play ' or more
serious combat. Such scars are clearly visible in the illustrations by Kasuya(1972), Pl. III. In addition to the normal form of scars inflicted on one another,other scars and wounds appear on the snout and ' face ', some as though they had
been inflicted by true (dog-like) biting action, others, as scars inflicted during theprocess of capturing prey; such as fish armed with protective spines or teeth(?).

Fig. 23.

Platanista gangetica (Lebeck).

REFERENCES
KASUYA, T., 1972. Some informations on the growth of the Ganges dolphin with a comment on the
Indus dolphin. Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst., 24: 87-108.
NISHIWAKI, M., KASUYA, T., KuREHA, K. and OauRo, N., 1972. Further comments of Mesoplodon
ginkgodens. Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst., 24 : 43-56.
OLIVER, W.R. B., 1937. Tasmacetus shepherdi: A new genus and species of beaked whale from New
Zealand. Proc. :(,ool. Soc. Lond. 107, Ser. B, 371-381.
OMURA, H., FUJINO, K. and KIMURA, S., 1955. Beaked whale Barardius baidi ot Japan, with notes of:(,iphines cavirostris. Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst., 10: 89-132.

Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst.,
No. 26, 1974

BODY SCARRING ON ODONTOCETESEXPLANATION OF PLATESPLATE I

Orcinus orca Linn.
Fig. 1. Scars faintly seen on the dorsum.
Fig. 2. Scars more clearly visiible about the head and jaws.
PLATE II

Delphinus delphis Linn.
Series of teeth marks on the dark area of the dorsum.
PLATE III

Lagenorhpnchus obscurus (Gray)
Fig. 1. Scars clearly visible about the mandible and around the eyes.
Fig. 2. Scars seen about the region below the dorsal fin.
PLATE IV

Berardius amouxi Duvernory
Fig. 1. Head on view showing dorsal and lateral scarring.
Fig. 2. Lateral view showing scars, old and new : at the lower edge, note scar
possibly inflicted by ' Killer ' Whale.
PLATE V

Berardius arnouxi Duvernory
Fig. 1. Caudal region, note the several attempts of 'Killers' or perhaps sharks.
Fig. 2. Note the various types of scarring below the dorsal fin.
PLATE VI

Ziphius cavirostris Cuvier
Fig. 1. Dorsal view.
Fig. 2. Closeup of dorsum showing dorsal fin and scars, single parallel and elliptical scars.
PLATE VII

Ziphius cavirostris Cuvier
Fig. 1. Ventral aspect showing vent and genital apertures together with the associated scars.
Mesoplodon grayi Haast.
Fig. 2. Ventral aspect showings vent and genital openings with the types of scarring.
PLATE VIII

Globicephala melaena (Smith)Dorsal aspect showing the numerous series of scars inflicted by the teeth of the
opponent.

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155

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