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PILOT WHALES FOR KIDS

Pilot whales are odontocetes – meaning toothed whales -from Greek: ‘odont’ for
tooth, and ‘cetus’ for whale -and belong to the same family as dolphins and
porpoises, the ‘Delphinidae’.

For information on how to detect pilot whales underwater, see
www.cpodclickdetector.com.

Pilot whales are odontocetes – meaning toothed whales -from Greek: ‘odont’ for
tooth, and ‘cetus’ for whale -and belong to the same family as dolphins and
porpoises, the ‘Delphinidae’. There are two types (species) of pilot whale:

 1. The long-finned pilot whale, Figure 1; and,
 2. The short-finned pilot whale, Figure 2.

Whilst they are called whales, they are just a big species of dolphin. The terms
whale and dolphin are somewhat woolly, and merely refer to the size (large =
whale and small = dolphin). Porpoises, which are often confused with dolphin,
belong to an entirely different group of animals that are all small.

Long-finned pilot whales

There are two further slightly differing types (subspecies) of the long-finned
pilot whale. The term subspecies means that groups that live together
(populations) in a particular geographical area may show differences either
physically (shape, form, colour etc.) or genetically (in their genes), but are
capable of breeding together successfully.

North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales are found in temperate (which means
cooler) oceanic and coastal waters, where temperatures do not vary widely, of
the North Atlantic Ocean, North Sea and the Mediterranean, Figure 1. Southern
long-finned pilot whales live in the sub-polar (‘sub’ means north of the south
pole, or south of the north pole) waters of the Pacific, South Atlantic and
Indian Ocean.

Their bulky body is dark greyish-brown to black in colour with a long tail and
round heads. Males have larger, and longer (more extended) heads, which can
appear squarish when viewed from above. Their flippers are long, reaching 1/5 to
1/3 of their body length with strong angled leading edge resembling a sort of
reverse ‘elbow’ and slender pointed tips. Male adults have a maximum recorded
length of 7.6 m and weigh up to 2300 kg whilst females can reach 5.7 m and weigh
1300 kg. Newborn calves weigh only 75 kg (about the weight of a tall, fit dad)
and are 1.7-1.8 m long.

Short-finned Pilot whales

Short-finned pilot whales (Figure 2.) are very similar to long-finned in
appearance; however, their flippers are shorter and are sickle shaped (more
curved), and the reverse elbow isn’t apparent. This is very difficult to tell
underwater, so a way to guess which species observed, is to rely on their
geographical location (which is rather unscientific). Short-finned pilot whales
are distributed in deep offshore waters of warmer temperate to tropics regions,
Figure 2.

To further complicate matters, the short-finned pilot whale has two ‘forms’
(i.e. not quite subspecies): Shiho-type and Naisa-type. The Shiho-type is found
off northern Japan and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Males can reach 7.2 m,
weighing nearly 3600 kg whilst females reach 5.1 m in length. The Naisa-type is
smaller with males and females only obtaining 5.25 m and 4 m in length
respectively, and is present off southern Japan, southeast Asia, the Indian
Ocean, and Hawai‘i.

This sociable marine mammal, travels in ‘pods’ of 10-20 individuals, which
gather with other pods to form communities of 100 -1000 individuals. Like killer
whales, calves stay with their mother for most of their lives.

For more information on marine mammals in general and information on a potential
career in the subject, please see: www.osc.co.uk

References:

Jefferson, A, Webber, MA & Pitman, RP (2008): Marine Mammals of the World. A
Comprehensive Guide to their Identification. Academic Press/Elsevier, London,
United Kingdom, pp. 193–199.

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