Long-finned Pilot Whale

Globicephala melas

Main Characteristics

The Long-finned Pilot Whales are rather large toothed whales. Their body is long and robust, dark brown or black with a white patch on the chest. Some animals have a light grey saddle on the back, behind the dorsal fin and light shadows by their eyes. The dorsal fin has a characteristic profile, set ahead of the mid-body, it is very wide at the base, but low smooth and curves backward. The flippers are slim but unusually long and measure about ¼ of the body length. The flippers curve away from the body and backwards and look like arms. The Long-finned Pilot Whales have 8 to 20 pairs of teeth in both upper and lower jaw.

Behaviour 

Long-finned Pilot Whales form pods which members include adult animals of both sexes and the ofspring of the cows. The adult males are normaly not parents of the younger whales and mating seems to take place between pods. The Long-finned Pilot Whales often form large schools of up to several hundred or thousend individuals that consist of many small pods. Long-finned Pilot Whales are very social animals and are often seen in the company of other whales such as Dolphins, Fin Whales, Sperm Whales and even Killer Whales. Serious fights amongst the males, with severe injuries or even death are quite common during mating season. 

Strandings and Whaling 

This species is known for mass strandings, when hundreds of individuals beach themselves at once, possibly due to navigation errors caused by the leading animal. They have been and still are hunted on the Faeroe Islands on regular basis.

To learn more about Long-finned Pilot Whales visit Wikipedia or the American Cetacean Society