Dear Colleagues, On behalf of all authors I am pleased to announce the publication of our new research on the last year mass stranding of sperm whales in the North Sea in Scientific Reports. For those of you who are interested in this exciting topic, please find further information below and the PDF attached. Title: Size and shape variations of the bony components of sperm whale cochleae Authors: Joseph G. Schnitzler, Bruno Frédérich, Sven Früchtnicht, Tobias Schaffeld, Johannes Baltzer, Andreas Ruser & Ursula Siebert Link to online article: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46734 doi: 10.1038/srep46734 Abstract: Several mass strandings of sperm whales occurred in the North Sea during January and February 2016. Twelve animals were necropsied and sampled around 48 h after their discovery on German coasts of Schleswig Holstein. The present study aims to explore the morphological variation of the primary sensory organ of sperm whales, the left and right auditory system, using high-resolution computerised tomography imaging. We performed a quantitative analysis of size and shape of cochleae using landmark-based geometric morphometrics to reveal inter-individual anatomical variations. A hierarchical cluster analysis based on thirty-one external morphometric characters classified these 12 individuals in two stranding clusters. A relative amount of shape variation could be attributable to geographical differences among stranding locations and clusters. Our geometric data allowed the discrimination of distinct bachelor schools among sperm whales that stranded on German coasts. We argue that the cochleae are individually shaped, varying greatly in dimensions and that the intra-specific variation observed in the morphology of the cochleae may partially reflect their affiliation to their bachelor school. There are increasing concerns about the impact of noise on cetaceans and describing the auditory periphery of odontocetes is a key conservation issue to further assess the effect of noise pollution. Corresponding Author: Joseph G. Schnitzler ( joseph.schnitzler@tiho-hannover.de<mailto:joseph.schnitzler@tiho-hannover.de> ) On behalf of the corresponding author, Tobias Schaffeld ( tobias.schaffeld@tiho-hannover.de<mailto:tobias.schaffeld@tiho-hannover.de> ) ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Tobias Schaffeld Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation Werftstr. 6 / 25761 Büsum / Germany Tel +49 511 856 8164 / Fax +49 511 856-8181 http://www.tiho-hannover.de/kliniken-institute/institute/institut-fuer-terre... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------