Globicephala macrorhynchusshort-finned pilot whale

Ge­o­graphic Range

Short-finned pilot whales are na­tive to the At­lantic, Pa­cific, and In­dian oceans. There are doc­u­mented pop­u­la­tions off the coasts of Japan, Spain, Africa, Cal­i­for­nia, India, and Hawaii. They pre­fer trop­i­cal and sub-trop­i­cal wa­ters and do not linger in areas of colder water such as the Arc­tic Ocean. In the At­lantic Ocean, they are found as far north as the Madeira Is­land and the Strait of Gibral­tar, which cor­re­sponds to an upper limit of 50 de­grees North lat­i­tude, and a lower limit of 40 de­grees South lat­i­tude. ("U.S. At­lantic and Gulf of Mex­ico Ma­rine Mam­mal Stock As­sess­ments -- 2000", 2000; Her­nan­dez-Gar­cia and Mar­tin, 1994; Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984; Nores and Perez, 2009; Tay­lor, et al., 2011)

Habi­tat

Short-finned pilot whales are found in deep open wa­ters near con­ti­nen­tal shelves, as well as in coastal areas. They fol­low schools of cephalopds (Cephalopoda) and linger in areas with qual­ity habi­tat for their prey. They pre­fer trop­i­cal and sub­trop­i­cal wa­ters. Short-finned pilot whales are found in depths up to 609 m. (Baird, et al., 2002; Shane, 1995; Tay­lor, et al., 2011)

  • Range depth
    609 (high) m
    1998.03 (high) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Short-finned pilot whales are toothed, black whales with gray-white mark­ings on the throat and chest that re­sem­ble an elon­gated an­chor. They have a gray sad­dle around their dor­sal fin. Their head re­gion is de­scribed as hav­ing a bulging fore­head, and from this are nick­named melon heads. They have a beak-like snout and slen­der, pointed flip­pers. These flip­pers are smaller than those of long-finned pilot whales (Glo­bi­cephala melas), which are oth­er­wise sim­i­lar in ap­pear­ance. Male short-finned pilot whales are larger than fe­males. On av­er­age, their bod­ies are 4 to 6 m long. (Bri­tan­nica, 2011)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • sexes alike
  • male larger
  • Average mass
    2.2e+06 g
    77533.04 oz
    AnAge
  • Range length
    4 to 6 m
    13.12 to 19.69 ft

Re­pro­duc­tion

Short-finned pilot whales can breed year-round, but the peak breed­ing pe­riod is July through Au­gust. Ad­di­tion­ally, mat­ing is not usu­ally ob­served dur­ing the win­ter months. Both males and fe­males have mul­ti­ple mates. Fe­males mate with males from out­side their pod, who travel be­tween dif­fer­ent pods. Young males dis­perse shortly after wean­ing, while young fe­males stay with their mother's pod. (John­stone and Cant, 2010; Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984; McAu­li­ffe and White­head, 2005; Pryor and Nor­ris, 1998; Shane, 1995)

Breed­ing oc­curs be­tween males and fe­males from un­re­lated pods. Ges­ta­tion lasts 15 months, and calves are usu­ally born in the win­ter dur­ing the time squid are spawn­ing. New­born short-finned pilot whales weigh 140 g on av­er­age. Fe­males are the sole care­tak­ers of the calves, and both young and old fe­males make a con­tri­bu­tion. The wean­ing pe­riod lasts 24 months, and the young are in­de­pen­dent after 3 years. Adult fe­males typ­i­cally give birth every 7 years, and have 4 to 5 calves in their life­time. Young fe­males are sex­u­ally ma­ture in 7 to 12 years, and in 9 years on av­er­age. Males are sex­u­ally ma­ture in 7 to 17 years, and in 14.6 years on av­er­age. Males rarely stay within the same pod after reach­ing sex­ual ma­tu­rity. Males have been known to move from pod to pod through­out their life­time. Fe­males breed until reach­ing the age of 40, at which they ex­pe­ri­ence menopause. Males can breed until the time of their death, which is nor­mally be­tween 40 and 50 years of age. (John­stone and Cant, 2010; Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984; McAu­li­ffe and White­head, 2005; Pryor and Nor­ris, 1998)

  • Breeding interval
    Calves are born at a 7 year interval, and a maximum of 4 to 5 calves are born in the mother's lifetime.
  • Breeding season
    Year-round, with a peak period between July and August.
  • Average number of offspring
    1
  • Average number of offspring
    1
    AnAge
  • Average gestation period
    15 months
  • Average gestation period
    452 days
    AnAge
  • Range weaning age
    24 (low) months
  • Range time to independence
    3 (low) years
  • Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    7 to 12 years
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    9 years
  • Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    7 to 17 years
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    14.6 years

Fe­males are the sole care­tak­ers of the young. Fe­males give birth to a sin­gle calf, suckle the calf, and teach it to hunt cephalopods (Cephalopoda). Other fe­males within the same pod will help the mother by watch­ing her young while she is out hunt­ing on her own. Fe­males in the menopausal stage will read­ily help out the younger, breed­ing fe­males. Males mi­grate from pod to pod and do not con­tribute to tak­ing care of young. (John­stone and Cant, 2010; Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984; McAu­li­ffe and White­head, 2005; Pryor and Nor­ris, 1998)

  • Parental Investment
  • precocial
  • female parental care
  • pre-fertilization
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-independence
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • female
  • post-independence association with parents

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The av­er­age lifes­pan of fe­males is 63 years, though they are only able to give birth until age 40. Fe­male short-finned pilot whales go through menopause much like human fe­males do. Males have a higher mor­tal­ity rate then fe­males and their av­er­age lifes­pan is 46 years. (Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984; McAu­li­ffe and White­head, 2005; Pryor and Nor­ris, 1998)

Be­hav­ior

Short-finned pilot whales are no­madic and so­cial an­i­mals that are pri­mar­ily noc­tur­nal. Fe­males form kin­ship pods and males mi­grate from pod to pod. Within the group, older non-breed­ing fe­males can serve as a sort of "stor­age bank" of in­for­ma­tion for the pod. Dur­ing the day, short-finned pilot whales are found rest­ing and trav­el­ing, and so­cial­ize lit­tle. It is as­sumed that they are more ac­tive and so­cial at night when they feed. Short-finned pilot whales travel through a large range in a con­stant search for food. (Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984; McAu­li­ffe and White­head, 2005; Shane, 1995)

Home Range

Pods of short-finned pilot whales often stay within a few hun­dred miles and re­turn to squid spawn­ing sites yearly. They will leave an area if food sources have been de­pleted and will avoid areas that have not had an abun­dance of food for sev­eral years. ("U.S. At­lantic and Gulf of Mex­ico Ma­rine Mam­mal Stock As­sess­ments -- 2000", 2000; Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Short-finned pilot whales com­mu­ni­cate vi­su­ally, phys­i­cally, and acousti­cally with other whales from their pods. Au­di­tory com­mu­ni­ca­tion con­sists of whis­tles and clicks emit­ted vo­cally. Phys­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion con­sists of tail slap­ping and breach­ing. Moth­ers com­mu­ni­cate phys­i­cally by nudg­ing their new­borns to the sur­face. They stay in close phys­i­cal con­tact as a means of com­mu­ni­ca­tion until the new­born is older. Their eyes are spe­cially adapted for life at chang­ing ocean depths. Short-finned pilot whales are sen­si­tive to loud sounds made by hu­mans such as navy sonar and seis­mic ex­plo­ration. (Hat­field, et al., 2003; Hof­mann, et al., 2004; Robert Heim­lich-Bo­ran and Hall, 1993; Tay­lor, et al., 2011)

Food Habits

Short-finned pilot whales prey upon cephalopods (Cephalopoda) as their main food source, though they also eat small fish. They con­sume about 45 kg of food per day. Around dawn and dusk, they per­form deep dives up­wards of 600 me­ters in search of food. It is as­sumed that these deep for­ag­ing dives hap­pen when ben­thic-dwelling prey rise and sink in the water col­umn in as­so­ci­a­tion with changes in sun­light. (Baird, et al., 2002; Bri­tan­nica, 2011; Her­nan­dez-Gar­cia and Mar­tin, 1994; Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984; Robert Heim­lich-Bo­ran and Hall, 1993; Tay­lor, et al., 2011)

  • Animal Foods
  • fish
  • mollusks

Pre­da­tion

Hu­mans hunt short-finned pilot whales in vary­ing ca­pac­i­ties. No other known preda­tors exist. (Tay­lor, et al., 2011)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Killer whales (Or­ci­nus orca) have been known to ha­rass pods of short-finned pilot whales, but they tend to not en­gage each other, even if food is pre­sent. (Duig­nan, et al., 1995; Tay­lor, et al., 2011; Van Bressem, et al., 1999)

Cetacean mor­bil­livirus of the fam­ily Paramyx­oviri­dae has been found in the At­lantic pop­u­la­tions, with most in­di­vid­u­als test­ing pos­i­tive. The ear­li­est known mor­bil­livirus in­fec­tions were recorded in long-finned pilot whales (G. melas) in 1982. (Duig­nan, et al., 1995; Van Bressem, et al., 1999)

Com­men­sal/Par­a­sitic Species
  • Cetacean mor­bil­livirus (Paramyx­oviri­dae)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Short-finned pilot whales are hunted by hu­mans as a food source, to melt blub­ber into oil, and for bone or­na­ments and tools. The species has been heav­ily hunted in the west­ern North­ern Pa­cific. Hunt­ing is now il­le­gal in some lo­ca­tions, but still oc­curs. (Ka­suya and Marsh, 1984)

  • Positive Impacts
  • food
  • body parts are source of valuable material

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Short-finned pi­lots whales can be­come en­tan­gled in drift and gill nets used to catch fish and sharks, caus­ing eco­nomic losses for com­mer­cial fish­er­men. (Car­retta and Chivers, 2004)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Pop­u­la­tion trend data is in­suf­fi­cient to de­ter­mine con­ser­va­tion sta­tus for short-finned pilot whales.

Other Com­ments

Short-finned pilot whales are also known as Black­fish, Pa­cific whales, and Pot­heads. (Bri­tan­nica, 2011)

Con­trib­u­tors

Chris­tine Dom­browski (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Christo­pher Yahnke (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Ale­cia Stew­art-Mal­one (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Cather­ine Kent (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

Glossary

Atlantic Ocean

the body of water between Africa, Europe, the southern ocean (above 60 degrees south latitude), and the western hemisphere. It is the second largest ocean in the world after the Pacific Ocean.

World Map

Pacific Ocean

body of water between the southern ocean (above 60 degrees south latitude), Australia, Asia, and the western hemisphere. This is the world's largest ocean, covering about 28% of the world's surface.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

carnivore

an animal that mainly eats meat

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

coastal

the nearshore aquatic habitats near a coast, or shoreline.

cosmopolitan

having a worldwide distribution. Found on all continents (except maybe Antarctica) and in all biogeographic provinces; or in all the major oceans (Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific.

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

female parental care

parental care is carried out by females

fertilization

union of egg and spermatozoan

food

A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

molluscivore

eats mollusks, members of Phylum Mollusca

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

natatorial

specialized for swimming

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

nocturnal

active during the night

nomadic

generally wanders from place to place, usually within a well-defined range.

pelagic

An aquatic biome consisting of the open ocean, far from land, does not include sea bottom (benthic zone).

polygynandrous

the kind of polygamy in which a female pairs with several males, each of which also pairs with several different females.

saltwater or marine

mainly lives in oceans, seas, or other bodies of salt water.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

visual

uses sight to communicate

viviparous

reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.

year-round breeding

breeding takes place throughout the year

young precocial

young are relatively well-developed when born

Ref­er­ences

2000. U.S. At­lantic and Gulf of Mex­ico Ma­rine Mam­mal Stock As­sess­ments -- 2000. U. S. De­part­ment of Com­merce: NOAA Tech­ni­cal Mem­o­ran­dum NMFS-NE-162. Ac­cessed Au­gust 23, 2011 at http://​citeseerx.​ist.​psu.​edu/​viewdoc/​download?​doi=10.​1.​1.​164.​61&​rep=rep1&​type=pdf.

Baird, R., J. Bor­sani, M. Han­son, P. Tyack. 2002. "Div­ing and night-time be­hav­ior of long-finned pilot whales in the Lig­urian Sea" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​www.​int-res.​com/​articles/​meps2002/​237/​m237p301.​pdf.

Bri­tan­nica, 2011. "Short-finned pilot whale" (On-line). En­cy­clopædia Bri­tan­nica On­line. Ac­cessed Au­gust 23, 2011 at http://​www.​britannica.​com/​EBchecked/​topic/​235450/​short-finned-pilot-whale.

Bri­tan­nica, 2011. "pilot whale" (On-line). En­cy­clopædia Bri­tan­nica On­line. Ac­cessed Au­gust 23, 2011 at http://​www.​britannica.​com/​EBchecked/​topic/​460640/​pilot-whale#​ref31966.

Car­retta, J., S. Chivers. 2004. "Pre­lim­i­nary es­ti­mates of ma­rine mamal mor­tal­ity and bi­o­log­i­cal sam­pling of cetaceans in Cal­i­for­nia gill­net fish­eries for 2003" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​137.​110.​142.​7/​uploadedFiles/​Divisions/​PRD/​Programs/​Coastal_​Marine_​Mammal/​SC56SM1.​pdf.

Duig­nan, P., C. House, J. Geraci, G. Early, H. Cop­land, M. Walsh, G. Boas­sart, C. Cray, S. Sadove, D. ST Aubin, M. Moore. 1995. "Mor­bil­l­livirus In­fec­tion in two species of pilot whale (Glo­bi­cephala sp.) from the west­ern At­lantic" (On-line). Wiley On­line Li­brary. Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​onlinelibrary.​wiley.​com/​doi/​10.​1111/​j.​1748-7692.​1995.​tb00514.​x/​abstract.

Hat­field, J., D. Samuel­son, P. Lewis, M. Chisholm. 2003. "Struc­ture and pre­sump­tive func­tion of the iri­do­corneal angle of the West In­dian man­a­tee (Trichechus man­a­tus), short-finned pilot whale (Glo­bi­cephala macrorhynchus), hip­popota­mus (Hip­popota­mus am­phibius), and African ele­phant (Lox­odonta africana)" (On-line). Wiley On­line Li­brary. Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​onlinelibrary.​wiley.​com/​doi/​10.​1046/​j.​1463-5224.​2003.​00262.​x/​abstract.

Her­nan­dez-Gar­cia, V., V. Mar­tin. 1994. "Stom­ach con­tents of two short-finned pilot whale (Glo­bi­cephala macrorhynchus Gray, 1846) (Cetacea, Del­phinidae) off the Ca­nary Is­lands: A pre­lim­i­nary note" (On-line). CSA Il­lu­mina. Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​md1.​csa.​com/​partners/​viewrecord.​php?​requester=gs&​collection=ENV&​recid=3733354&​q=%22Globicephala+macrorhynchus%22&​uid=790983222&​setcookie=yes.

Hof­mann, B., M. Scheer, I. Behr. 2004. "Un­der­wa­ter be­hav­iors of short-finned pilot whales (Glo­bi­cephala macrorhynchus) off Tener­ife" (On-line). de Gruyter Ref­er­ence Global. Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​www.​reference-global.​com/​doi/​abs/​10.​1515/​mamm.​2004.​020.

John­stone, R., M. Cant. 2010. "The evo­lu­tion of menopause in cetaceans and hu­mans: the role of de­mog­ra­phy" (On-line). Pro­ceed­ins of The Royal So­ci­ety. Ac­cessed Au­gust 26, 2011 at http://​rspb.​royalsocietypublishing.​org/​content/​277/​1701/​3765.​full.​pdf+html.

Ka­suya, T., H. Marsh. 1984. "Life his­tory and re­pro­duc­tive bi­ol­ogy of the short-finned pilot whale, Glo­bi­cephala macrorhynchus, off the Pa­cific coast of Japan" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 23, 2011 at http://​www.​helenemarsh.​com/​publications/​JournalPapers/​1984/​KasuyaMarshLifeReproPilot1984.​pdf.

McAu­li­ffe, K., H. White­head. 2005. Eu­so­cial­ity, menopause and in­for­ma­tion in ma­tri­lin­eal whales. TRENDS in Ecol­ogy and Evo­lu­tion, Vol 20 No 12: 650. Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​www.​biology.​ed.​ac.​uk/​public/​conferences/​evolbiol2006/​papers/​McAuliffe.​pdf.

Nores, C., C. Perez. 2009. "Over­lap­ping range be­tween Glo­bi­cephala macrorhynchus and Glo­bi­cephala melaena in the north­east­ern At­lantic" (On-line). de Gruyter Ref­er­ence Global. Ac­cessed Au­gust 23, 2011 at http://​www.​reference-global.​com/​doi/​abs/​10.​1515/​mamm.​1988.​52.​1.​51.

Pryor, K., K. Nor­ris. 1998. Dol­phin so­ci­eties: dis­cov­er­ies and puz­zles. Cal­i­for­nia: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press. Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​books.​google.​com/​books?​hl=en&​lr=&​id=yPlKzPGFUvwC&​oi=fnd&​pg=PA281&​dq=%22Globicephala+macrorhynchus%22&​ots=Er250dhxs-&​sig=cMaI0lFr5sV58cQJcxzX7BnVk3k#​v=onepage&​q=%22Globicephala%20macrorhynchus%22&​f=false.

Robert Heim­lich-Bo­ran, J., C. Hall. 1993. "So­cial Or­gan­i­sa­tion of the Short-finned Pilot Whale, Glo­bi­cephala macrorhynchus, with Spe­cial Ref­er­ence to the Com­par­a­tive So­cial Ecol­ogy of Del­phinids" (On-line). Aquatic Com­mones. Ac­cessed Au­gust 23, 2011 at http://​aquaticcommons.​org/​4005/​.

Shane, S. 1995. "Be­hav­ior pat­terns of pilot whales and Risso's dol­phins off Santa Catalina Is­land, Cal­i­for­nia" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​aquaticmammalsjournal.​org/​share/​AquaticMammalsIssueArchives/​1995/​AquaticMammals_​21-03/​21-03_​Shane.​pdf.

Tay­lor, B., R. Baird, J. Bar­low, S. Daw­son, J. Ford, J. Mead, G. No­tar­bar­tolo di Sciara, P. Wade, R. Pit­man. 2011. "Glo­bi­cephala macrorhynchus" (On-line). The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 07, 2012 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​apps/​redlist/​details/​9249/​0.

Van Bressem, M., K. Van Waere­beek, J. Raga. 1999. re­view of virus in­fec­tions of cetaceans and the po­ten­tial im­pact of mor­bil­liviruses, poxviruses and pa­pil­lo­maviruses on host pop­u­la­tion dy­nam­ics. Dis­eases of Aquatic Or­gan­isms, Vol 38: 54. Ac­cessed Au­gust 25, 2011 at http://​www.​int-res.​com/​articles/​dao/​38/​d038p053.​pdf.