? Pilot Whale Conservation status: Lower risk
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cetacea Family: Delphinidae Genus: Globicephala Species: G. melas G. macrorhynchus
Binomial name
Globicephala macrorhynchus Gray, 1846
Short-finned Pilot Whale range
Globicephala melas Traill, 1809
Long-finned Pilot Whale range

"Calderón" redirects here. For other uses, see Calderón (disambiguation).

The Pilot Whale is one of two species of cetacean in the genus Globicephala. The genus is part of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae) although their behaviour is closer to that of the larger whales. The two species are the Long-finned Pilot Whale and the Short-finned Pilot Whale. The two are not readily distinguished at sea and are typically just known simply as Pilot Whales. They and other large members of the dolphin family are also known as blackfish. Download high resolution version (1742x594, 191 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms (as opposed to folk taxonomy). ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subregnum Agnotozoa Placozoa (trichoplax) Orthonectida (orthonectids) Rhombozoa (dicyemids) Subregnum Eumetazoa Radiata (unranked) (radial symmetry) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anemones) Bilateria (unranked) (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (parasitic to flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicatas Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Eutheria (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Anagaloidea (extinct) Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Dinocerata (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes... Suborders Mysticeti Odontoceti Archaeoceti (extinct) (see text for families) The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. ... Genera See text Oceanic dolphins are the members of the Delphinidae family of cetaceans. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... John Edward Gray. ... Download high resolution version (1357x628, 34 KB) , (C) User:Pcb21, 2004, User:Vardion 2003. ... Dr. Thomas Stewart Traill (October 29, 1781- July 30, 1862) was a Scottish professor of medical jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh. ... Download high resolution version (1357x628, 35 KB) (C) User:Pcb21, 2004, User:Vardion 2003. ... Calderón may refer to the following individuals: Alberto Calderón - Argentine mathematician. ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ... Suborders Mysticeti Odontoceti Archaeoceti (extinct) (see text for families) The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. ... In biology, a genus (plural genera) is a taxonomic grouping. ... Genera See text Oceanic dolphins are the members of the Delphinidae family of cetaceans. ... In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is 1) a rank or 2) a taxon in that rank. ... Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. ...

Physical description

Pilot Whales

Pilot Whales are jet black or a very dark grey colour. The dorsal fin is set forward on the back and sweeps back. The body is elongated but stocky in the tail fin. This photo of two Long-finned Pilot Whales is taken from http://nmml. ... This photo of two Long-finned Pilot Whales is taken from http://nmml. ... Dorsal Fin of the Orca A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of fishes, whales, dolphins and porpoises. ...

The differences in appearance of the two species are quite subtle and where their distributions overlap it is generally not possible to tell the species apart at sea. On land specimens may be distinguished by the length of flipper, the number of teeth and the shape of the skull: the Short-finned has a more bulbous head particularly in older males; the Long-finned is squarer, and the forehead is more likely to overhang the mouth. G. macrorhynchus was described, from skeletal materials only, by John Edward Gray in 1846. He presumed from the skeleton that the whale had a large beak ("macrorhynchus" in Latin). John Edward Gray. ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

Birth weight is about 60 kg. Adult weight varies from 1,000 to 3,000 kg. They may be between four and seven metres in length. Life span is about 45 years in males and 60 years in females for both species.

Both species live in groups of about 10 to 30 in number. They are quite active and will frequently lobtail, spyhop and approach boats.

Pilot Whales feed predominantly on squid. Tuna and Pilot Whales are frequently found in the same area. This is probably because they share a common diet (squid) rather than that the Pilot Whale feeds on tuna. Pilot Whales are more susceptible than most species to beaching. It is possible that squid spawning close to shore attract Pilot Whales and cause them to beach. Suborders Squids are a large, diverse group of marine cephalopods. ... Species See text Tuna, sometimes called tunafish, are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. ...

Population and distribution

Pilot Whales are amongst the most common and widely-distributed of the marine mammals in the cetacean order. A marine mammal is a mammal that is primarily ocean-dwelling or depends on the ocean for its food. ... Scientific classification or biological classification refers to how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ...

The Long-finned species prefers slightly cooler waters than the Short-finned and is divided into two populations. The larger group is found in a circumpolar band in the Southern Ocean running from approximately 20° S to 65° S. It may be sighted off the coasts of Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. There are estimated to be in excess of 200,000 individuals in this group. The second population is much smaller and inhabits the North Atlantic Ocean, in a band that runs from South Carolina in the United States across to the Azores and Morocco and its southern edge and from Newfoundland to Greenland, Iceland and northern Norway at is northern. It is also present in the western half of the Mediterranean Sea. Official language(s) English Capital Charleston(1760-1789) Columbia(1790-present) Largest city Columbia Area  Ranked 40th  - Total 34,726 sq mi (82,965 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 260 miles (420 km)  - % water 6  - Latitude 32°430N to 35°12N  - Longitude 78°030... Location Motto of the autonomous region: Antes morrer livres que em paz sujeitos (Portuguese: To die free rather than to be subjugated in peace) Official language Portuguese Capitals Ponta Delgada (Presidency of the autonomous government), Angra do Heroísmo (Supreme Court), Horta (Legislative Assembly) Other towns Praia da Vitória... Newfoundland (French: Terre-Neuve; Irish: Talamh an Éisc; Latin: Terra Nova) is a large island off the northeast coast of North America, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... Satellite image The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ...

The Short-finned species is more populous. It is found in temperate and tropical waters of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Its population overlaps slightly with the Long-finned Species in the western Atlantic. There are 150,000 individuals in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. There are estimated to be more than 30,000 animals in the western Pacific, off the coast of Japan.

Both species prefer deep water.

Human interaction

See also: Whaling in the Faroe Islands Whaling in the Faroe Islands has been practiced since at least the 10th century [1]. Around one thousand Long-finned Pilot Whales (called Grind in faroese) are harvested in the annual whale drive by Faroese fishermen each year [2,3]. This event is also known as the Grindadráp. ...

The long-term survival prospects of both species look good. Indeed in its Red List of Threatened Species the IUCN lists both the Long-finned and Short-finned as "Lower Risk; conservation dependent". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. ... The World Conservation Union or International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ...

The Long-finned Pilot Whale has traditionally been killed by whalers by the process of "driving" - where many fishermen and boats surround a school of whales and slowly force them to shore, killing them. This practice was common in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, declining only in the 1990s. In the 1980s around 2,500 individuals were killed each year in this manner. Currently only the Faroe Islands operates such a cull - killing around 1,000 animals each year. In the southern Hemisphere there has been much less human interference than in the north - there are some reports of a whaling drive off the Falkland Islands but details are sketchy. It is unlikely to affect the stability of the southern population which seems to be secure. See also 1990s, the band Seinfeld was a pop cultural phenomenon during the 90s and became one of the most popular TV programs ever. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ...

The Short-finned Pilot Whale has also been hunted for many centuries, particularly by Japanese whalers. In the mid-1980s the annual Japanese kill was about 2,300 animals. This had decreased to about 400 per year by the 1990s. Killing by harpoon is still relatively common in the Lesser Antilles, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Due to poor record-keeping it is not known how many kills are made each year, and what the effect this has on the local population, although the global effect is probably absorbable. The Lesser Antilles are part of the Antilles, which together with the Bahamas form the West Indies. ...

Both species are killed in the hundreds or perhaps thousands in longline and gillnets each year.

In 2006, a pilot whale was seen outside the Houses of Parliament in London [1]. This may refer to the: British Houses of Parliament. ... For other uses, see London (disambiguation). ...

References

• National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World ISBN 0375411410
• Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals ISBN 0125513402
• Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, Mark Carwardine, ISBN 0751327816