Maui's dolphin
| Cephalorhynchus hectori maui | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Delphinidae |
| Genus: | Cephalorhynchus |
| Species: | C. hectori |
| Subspecies: | C. h. maui |
| Trinomial name | |
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Cephalorhynchus hectori maui Baker et al., 2002 |
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Maui's dolphin or popoto (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui) is the world's rarest and smallest known subspecies of dolphin.
They are a subspecies of the Hector's dolphin. Maui's dolphins are only found off the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. Hector's and Maui's are New Zealand's only endemic cetaceans. Maui's dolphins are generally found close to shore in groups or pods of several dolphins. They are generally seen in water shallower than 20 m, but may also range further offshore.
The dolphin is threatened by set-netting and trawling. Based on estimates from 2012, in May 2014, the World Wildlife Fund in New Zealand launched "The Last 55" campaign, calling for a full ban over what it believed is their entire range. The International Whaling Commission supports more fishing restrictions, but the New Zealand government has resisted the demands and questioned the reliability of the evidence presented to the IWC that Maui's dolphins inhabit the areas they are said to inhabit. In June 2014, the government decided to open up 3000 km2 of the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary – the main habitat of the Maui's dolphin – for oil drilling. This amounts to one-quarter of the total sanctuary area. In May 2015, estimates suggested that the population had declined to 43-47 individuals, of which only 10 were mature females.
The word "Maui" from the Maui's dolphin's name comes from te Ika-a-Māui, the Māori word for New Zealand's North Island. However, the Māori word for the dolphin itself is popoto.
In 2002, Maui's dolphins were classified as a subspecies of Hector's dolphin. Previously, they had been known as the North Island Hector's dolphin. Dr Alan Baker found genetic and skeletal differences in the Maui's dolphins which made them distinct from others in the Hector's species. These significant differences over a small geographical distance have not been found in any other studies of marine mammals. So far, 26 different mitochondrial DNA identification haplotypes have been found in the Hector's species, the Maui's ‘G' haplotype being one of them.
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Wikipedia