The stomach contents of 27 pygmy sperm whales, Kogia breviceps, stranded on New Zealand beaches between 1991 and 2003 are reported. These individuals comprise 16 males, 10 females, and one for which no sex information is available. The diet was found to include fish and crustaceans, but is comprised primarily of cephalopods, with 0-526 lower beaks, representing an estimated maximum of c. 60 kg of cephalopod prey consumed by any one whale. Cephalopod prey is attributed to 23 species from 13 families, and is dominated by juvenile individuals of the families Histioteuthididae and Cranchiidae (adults of which usually occur at depths exceeding 400 m). Perceived threats to this whale, particularly those affecting distribution and abundance of prey species, are also discussed. These are the first data reporting the diet of this whale species in New Zealand waters. A comparison of the diet of K. breviceps is made with that of the sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus from New Zealand waters, and with the diet of Kogia known elsewhere.

Stomach contents of the long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas, are reported for the first time from New Zealand waters. Analyses based on two male and three female whales (2.5-5.3 m in length) that stranded on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay, South Island in December 2005 revealed a diet comprised exclusively of cephalopods (2−33 lower cephalopod beaks per stomach). Two genera of cephalopod from two orders; arrow squid, Nototodarus spp. (Teuthoidea: Ommastrephidae), and common octopus, Pinnoctopus cordiformis (Octopoda: Octopodidae) were represented. A further five pilot whale stomachs were examined and found to be empty.

New data are reported on the diet of the long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas, based on stomach contents recovered from whales involved in a mass stranding on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay, South Island, on 23 January 2008. The stomachs of 11 whales were examined, from which identifiable prey remains were recovered from six, four females and two males (3.1-5.4 m in length). Prey remains comprised exclusively cephalopod beaks (1-46 beaks per whale), attributed to two genera in two orders: arrow squid, Nototodarus spp. (Teuthoidea: Ommastrephidae), and common octopus, Pinnoctopus cordiformis (Octopoda: Octopodidae). The stomachs of eight whales were infested with parasitic nematodes, with two ulcerated; the stomachs of five whales did not contain any prey remains. These data complement and are comparable to the only other information available for this species from this region, reported from whales mass-stranded at this same location in December 2005. Lower beak rostral length versus mantle length and biomass regression equations for Nototodarus spp. are reviewed, highlighting the importance of the use of species-specific regression equations for reconstructing both cephalopod mantle length and biomass from lower beak remains in dietary studies.

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