Pilot whales
| Pilot whales | ||||||||||||
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Common pilot whales ( Globicephala melas ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Globicephala | ||||||||||||
| Lesson , 1828 |
The pilot whales or pilot whales ( Globicephala ) in the narrower sense are a genus of whales from the family of dolphins (Delphinidae) with two species, the
- Common or long- fin pilot whale ( Globicephala melas ) and the
- Short-finned pilot whale ( Globicephala macrorhynchus ).
In a broader sense, several short-snouted dolphin species (such as the little pilot whale , the round-headed dolphin and the broad-billed dolphin ) are grouped under this name. The name grind comes from Faroese .
features
Pilot whales reach a length of 3.6 to 8.5 meters and an average weight of 800 kilograms (in exceptional cases up to almost 3000 kilograms). The body is cylindrical, the head, shaped like a ball, is barely detached from the trunk, the melon towers above the very short snout of the animals. With the exception of a white spot below the chin, they are colored black. The two species differ in the length of the flippers, which gives them their name, as well as in the number of teeth - short-finned pilot whales have seven to nine teeth per half of the jaw, which is fewer than the common pilot whale (8 to 13 per half of the jaw).
Way of life
Pilot whales prefer the open sea and are rarely found near the coast. While the short-finned pilot whale prefers tropical and subtropical seas, the common pilot whale is more common in temperate and cool regions, including European waters.
Pilot whales sleep during the day and forage at night. Your dives are 5 to 10 minutes long and reach depths of up to 600 meters. Their diet consists mainly of cephalopods , and to a lesser extent they also prey on fish . These animals live in groups ( schools ) of an average of 20 animals. A school follows a lead animal, hence the name pilot whales. The social behavior of these animals is highly developed.
Systematics
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Phylogenetic systematics of the Delphinidae according to Horreo 2018
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Genetic studies show the pilot whales as a sister group to a taxon made up of the little pilot whale ( Feresa attenuata ) and the broad-billed dolphin ( Peponocephala electra ). Together with the little killer whale ( Pseudorca crassidens ) and the round-headed dolphin ( Grampus griseus ) , these species form the subfamily Globicephalinae within the dolphins and are compared to the two species of the genus Orcaella .
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c José L. Horreo: New insights into the phylogenetic relationships among the oceanic dolphins (Cetacea: Delphinidae). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 57 (2), May 2019; Pp. 476-480. doi : 10.1111 / jzs.12255
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
