Short-finned Pilot Whale ( Globicephala macrorhynchus )

Short-finned Pilot Whale, Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Photograph by Tony Hisgett. Some rights reserved.

MAMMAL FACTS

distribution map showing range of Globicephala macrorhynchus in North America

Description
The Short-finned Pilot Whale is black with a white patch on the chin. The white patch may extend down the belly. The head is large and rounded with no beak. They have seven to nine teeth on each side of upper and lower jaw. The flippers are shorter than those of the Long-finned Pilot Whale - less than one fifth of the body length. The dorsal fin is located further forward on the body than on any other whale.

Size
Males grow to 6m long and weigh up to 3000kg. Females grow to 4m long and weigh up to 1200 kg.

Environment
oceans, seas and bays. Migrates from cold to warm waters in water.

Food
They eat squid and fish and use echolocation to help them locate food. They eat up to 45kg of food per day.

Breeding
Single calf is born after gestation of 11 - 13 months. The young are weaned after about 2 years. Female gives birth only once every 7 years.

Range
tropical and warm temperate waters of Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans in both northern and southern hemisphere

Conservation Status
LR|cd

Classification

Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Cetacea
Family:	Delphinidae
Genus:	Globicephala
Species:	macrorhynchus
Common Name:	Short-finned Pilot Whale

Relatives in same Genus
Long-finned Pilot Whale (G. melas)