Talk:Minke whale

Untitled
Is the range image for the Dwarf correct? It seems to conflict with the text that it is a subspecies of the Northern. - UtherSRG 21:54, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)

Behavior
I would split this into the different types of behavior from the minke whale. Behavior could be a topic heading and then section it off into sub-topics such as dive behavior and reproduction. Other topics to be added to this section could include preferred foraging strategies and socialization. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nazarioe11 (talk • contribs) 01:48, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

Failed Good Article Candidate
I think this article still needs some work to bring it up to Good Article standards. For an idea of what it could look like, see Blue Whale. There is almost enough material present here, but it needs some additions, along with some wikification and referencing. Hope these comments are helpful in improving the article, The Land 11:58, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The lead section should be fuller and more descriptive.
 * Taxonomy section requires proper citations. It might also cover evolution of the species.
 * Physical characteristics could be expanded, but also requires some citations
 * Population and distribution section is largely unwikified, makes citations without following the right format, and could do with being rewritten for clarity.
 * Note: a 95% confidence interval is a range of two values (e.g., given this sample, there is a 95% confidence that the population parameter will be within those values). The population is only given as one value. --Jeffmcneill 10:28, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Whaling: Generally good in this section, could do with more inline citations (e.g. the International Whaling Commission study).
 * Categories: Is it really appropriate to be in the 'Fauna of Ireland' and 'Fauna of Scotland' categories and no others?

Conservation status / split
I've removed the conservation status, because this article covers two animals and not one. The article needs to be split (Common and Antarctic) before it's added back. —Pengo 22:39, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

| status = LR/cd | status_system = iucn2.3 | status_ref =

I don't think this article should be split. I have no problem with adding separate articles for the Common and Antarctic Minkes (although aren't there know thought to be 3 species?) but the Minke page should not be a disambiguation page but should provide the general information on Minkes, similar to Common Dolphins and others. Users shouldn't be required to know which type of Minke they are looking for in order to get the general information which is common to all Minkes. Of course the general Minke article should have links to the various Minke species.Rlendog (talk) 17:03, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Splitting is necessary. How else can we identify the conservation threats and current status? And the new status_system = iucn3.1 should be piped. --Wloveral (talk) 03:36, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
 * That can be done in separate articles for each of the Common and Antarctic Minke's without removing this page.Rlendog (talk) 12:09, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with the first statement. They are two species and they do need to be split. --HoopoeBaijiKite 20:50, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree that they need to be split. What I disagree with is the comment in the tag that the 2 species should only be accessable from a disambiguation page, rather than from a modified version of this page.  There are several reasons this page covering "Minke Whales" is necessary:
 * 1. The minke whales jointly encompass a valid clade (see ). So it is entirely appropriate, and in fact necessary, to have a Wikipedia article covering this clade.
 * 2. Much of the information that this article encompasses is based on sources that precede the split of minke whales into 2 species. In fact, most sources on minke whales predate the species split.  That generalized information that cannot be specifically sourced to either the Antarctic or common minke whale needs to be included in a general minke whale article.
 * 3. Most people who are looking up information on minke whales are not necessarily aware of the species split. And they are not necessarily aware of which specific species they are looking for information about.  Therefore, it is most useful to readers to have generalized information about the minke whale clade in this article, with links to the 2 separate species articles for those who want more specific information.  And, of course, users who already know which specific species of minke whale they are looking for would still be able to go directly to the article they want by typing the species name in their search without coming here.
 * 4. Splitting the article in this manner would still address all the issues regarding covering each species separately, such as for conservation tracking. Rlendog (talk) 00:58, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Per the discussion above, I split the article into 2 articles, one for the Common Minke Whale and one for the Antarctic Minke Whale. For the reasons listed above, I retained this page to cover the Minke Whale clade in general, and edited it accordingly. Some additional clean up may be necessary though. Rlendog (talk) 03:29, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Conservation status of both species has changed on the IUCN page: Birdybirdybirdy (talk) 23:33, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Stinky minkes
''In contrast to the spectacularly acrobatic Humpback Whale, Minkes do not raise their fluke out of the water when diving and are less likely to breach (jump clear of the sea surface). This, combined with the fact that Minkes can dive under water for as long as twenty minutes, has led some whale-watching enthusiasts to label them 'stinky Minkes'.''

I don't understand the logic. Why would this lead them to be so labelled? Perhaps more detail is required. Ordinary Person 01:43, 14 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't know. Does anybody else have an answer?&mdash; Galactic Explorer  03:42, 30 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Some Minkies are known as "seekers" and will quite often come very close to boats - their breath leaves a LOT to be desired, this is the main reason why they get labeled with stinky minkies ;) .... It´s breath releated basically .. so there you have it - it´s anecdotal though SammytheSeal 05:40, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

We don't refer to them that way here. I believe it should be "Slinky minkes." I think the writer has some confusion regarding the nicknames of this animal. In the Salish Sea (Puget Sound), Washington State, Minkes have the moniker "slinky minke" due to the fact that they make multiple course changes underwater during their dives (pursuit of prey/feeding) and it is difficult to judge where and when the animal will appear again, if at all. In a 20 minute dive, you can loose them entirely. Most cetacean exhalations are "fishy". I haven't found their's to be any more disagreeable than other species. MercuryGlass 19:47, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
 * At least in the northeast, Minke's sometimes do have the nickname "stinky Minke". This is because most whale-watching operators offer a refund if no whales are encountered.  And Minkes are common, but not as spectacular or exciting to see as humpbacks.  So encountering a Minke voids the refund possibility without being quite what many whale-watchers were hoping for.  Hence the nickname.Rlendog (talk) 17:00, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Overlapping articles
The article on "common minke whale" overlaps a lot with this article, I think that's quite bad. I haven't checked up how much differences there is between the antartic and arctic subspecies, but maybe all three articles should be merged? Alternatively, edit all three articles to drop all overlapping, and add clear and visible references between them?

I was searching for information on "what do Minke Whales eat" and "how much mercury (Hg) is there in the meat from minke whale?". Eventually, I found some answers, but since I don't know what article it's best to add it to, I skip it as for now.

For the reference, through the Norwegian articles http://www.imr.no/__data/page/6538/3.3.6_Hval.pdf and http://folk.uib.no/hsk021/oppgaver.htm I find that not so much research have been done on what the arctic Minke Whale is eating (that's really a surprise, considering all the "research catches" that was done before Norwegian officially resumed commercial whaling!), but some research indicates that during the summer season it eats approx 1/3 of plankton, 1/3 of herring, and 1/3 of other small fishes.

As for the mercury containt of whale meat, there also seems to be a lack of research and information, but through private emails I've found that some samples have returned 0.2 micro grams of Hg pr kg of meat for Norwegian commercial meat. The "safe" limit is considered to be between 0.1 μg/kg and 1.0 μg/kg depending on whom one asks and how much one eats (official limits for most fish in the EU is 0.5 μg/kg, official limits for commercially sold fish in the US is 1.0 μg/kg). The email also referenced that other whale species caught around the Faeroe Islands had far higher levels.

tobixen (talk) 22:24, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Why does this article include time of death >5minutes, and why isn't it cited? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.56.187.183 (talk) 03:06, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Spelling
I made and then reverted some spelling changes. I have the rules on naming marine mammals/whales worked out now. Apologies for mistakes.(Littleolive oil (talk) 23:11, 22 September 2016 (UTC)) Missed the ref list. Thanks.(Littleolive oil (talk) 00:01, 23 September 2016 (UTC))

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Pronunciation
Most European languages are phonetic. The name Meinke seems German. The 'e' at the end of Meinke and Minke would be pronounced as 'e' in egg, not 'i' as in pig. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.129.96.75 (talk) 06:34, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Pronunciation
Most European languages are phonetic. The name Meinke seems German. The 'e' at the end of Meinke and Minke would be pronounced as 'e' in egg, not 'i' as in pig. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.129.96.75 (talk) 06:35, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

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Minke whale photo
Bubblesorg (talk) 14:08, 5 May 2018 (UTC) I have a public domian photo if th first one is copyright

Whaling commission estimates out of date
Currently the article reports the 2004 population estimate (Minke_whale). This is seriously out of date. At the provided link, reports up to 2018 are available. However, they are prepared in the best tradition of scientific committee reports, i.e., TONS of verbiage. I have been unable to extract current numbers from the most recent one without investing more time than I have available. If someone wants to burrow in and get these numbers out, that would be appreciated :) -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 08:15, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Are Minke whale even a taxon or an informal grouping?
Could someone please answer this? Could some one please help? Thanks.--Bubblesorg (talk) 23:56, 10 July 2018 (UTC) Need Help now--Bubblesorg (talk) 23:41, 12 July 2018 (UTC) Could someone please help im tired of this. --Bubblesorg (talk) 19:17, 13 July 2018 (UTC)
 * As the article states, there are two closely related species both called minke whales, primarily because they were originally considered conspecific. As such, it is an informal group (since they have not been classified as a subgenus). Please don't go "fixing" this all over the article now though; it's made quite clear by the current text. -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 10:24, 14 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Is it a species complex, or some other clade then? If so, the manual Taxobox should be upgraded to an Automatic taxobox.  If it is only a grade, then an automated paraphyletic group box should be used.  I think either change could be applied without rocking the boat on the rest of the article.  The question could also be posed for the only other article in WikiProject Cetaceans using a manual taxobox, Bryde's whale. --Nessie (talk) 04:48, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

current IUCN status and box
, I'm getting the impression you didn't quite get the point. There is no conservation status in the box because "minke whale" covers two species one of which is rated Least Concern and one (now) Near Threatened. Hence putting "LC" into the box is misleading. The material is treated in the text. Also, that stuff had not been updated (to 2018) assessment, so just hitting revert here is not only missing the point but actively preventing the provision of up-to-date information. Clear now? -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 12:10, 28 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I mean, to level a poorly veiled accusation at Elmidae of being a Japanese government whaling shill solely because one is adamant in refusing to understand that taxa encompassing two or more distinct species, as is the situation with minke whales, do not receive conservation status for what should be obvious logistical problems is not Elmidae's personal failing, among other things.--Mr Fink (talk) 02:10, 29 December 2018 (UTC)