Tree Whales

Whales

Why whales?

Fair question for a software studio. The short answer: whales are big, patient and go a long way. The tree on this one’s back is the stuff we grow for our clients. And we just like them.

Six things about whales in New Zealand waters, checked against DOC and Te Ara.

Whale facts

Six things about our whales

Sources are at the bottom of the page.

  • Whales next door

    At Kaikōura the seabed drops away just 4.5 km from shore and plunges about 1,000 m. Sperm whales (parāoa), mostly males, come to feed in the canyon. DOC notes there is nowhere else in the world where they are routinely found so close to the coast.

  • Deep divers, big brains

    Sperm whales hunt in the deep, sometimes below 2,000 m: about 20 rugby fields end to end, as DOC puts it. Their brain weighs almost 10 kg, the heaviest of any animal.

  • The winter commute

    Humpbacks travel about 10,000 km a year between Antarctic feeding grounds and tropical breeding grounds. In winter they head north mainly along the South Island’s east coast and through Cook Strait, then come back down the west coast in spring.

  • Orca with a taste for rays

    Orca (maki) are actually the largest member of the dolphin family. An estimated 150–200 live around New Zealand, and some dig in the muddy floor of Wellington Harbour for stingrays, something orca elsewhere are not known to do.

  • Spotted from the beach

    Southern right whales (tohorā) are the only large baleen whales you can see from the beach. They spend winter and spring mostly around the subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands, with the odd visit to the mainland. Look for the V-shaped blow.

  • Almost half the world’s

    Almost half the world’s whale and dolphin species have been reported in New Zealand waters. At least 26 kinds of whale and 15 kinds of dolphin can be spotted here.

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Sources

Facts on this page were checked on 21 October 2026 against:

  1. Department of Conservation: Sperm whales
  2. Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Whales – Sperm whale (Gerard Hutching)
  3. Department of Conservation: Marine Mammals Count (PDF)
  4. Department of Conservation: Humpback whales
  5. Department of Conservation: Killer whale/orca
  6. Department of Conservation: Southern right whales/tohorā
  7. Department of Conservation: Whales
  8. DOC Conservation blog: Get to know our marine mammals (March 2025)