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Family Delphinidae (Dolphins)
| False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens) |
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IDENTIFICATION
The False Killer Whale is all black; its head and flippers are narrow
and tapered. The dorsal fin is shorter and more slender than the Killer
Whale's and it is curved backwards more strongly. Males grow up to 5.8
metres long and females to about 5.2 metres; calves range from 1.5 to
2.1 metres at birth. The False Killer Whale can be distinguished from
other whales of its size by the presence of a hump or elbowlike prominence
on the curved outer margin of its flippers.
MEALS, MANNERS AND MIGRATION
These gregarious whales travel in large groups of 200 or more. Sometimes
whole pods, numbering in the hundreds, will run aground - these mass strandings
are quite common for this species. It appears that the whales become confused
by their own mass echolocation calls as they approach the shallows of
unknown shores. False Killer Whales eat squid, fish and, sometimes, smaller
dolphins and porpoises.
STATUS
The COSEWIC status designation for the False Killer Whale in Canada is
not at risk. Increasing pollution in the ocean is likely affecting
this species' mortality, but since British Columbia is the northern limit
for False Killer Whales and they are rarely sighted here, this problem
is global rather than a local.
DISTRIBUTION
Almost all the world's temperate and tropical offshore waters. In the
eastern North Pacific, this species ranges as far north as Alaska. Since
1987 when it was first recorded in B.C. waters, there have been 23 sightings
of the False Killer Whale, most off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
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