Pilot Whale

Pilot whales are large, dark-coloured dolphins with a big, rounded forehead. In this app the group includes the Short-finned Pilot Whale and the Long-finned Pilot Whale.

Look for the dark body, bulbous forehead, and forward-set dorsal fin that mark this group as pilot whales rather than other dolphins. The two species look almost the same and are very hard to tell apart underwater.

Pilot whales are mostly dark grey, brown, or black, with a few lighter patches, including a grey saddle behind the dorsal fin and an anchor-shaped mark under the chin. They have a stocky body, a large bulbous forehead, and long, sickle-shaped flippers. The dorsal fin sits well forward on the back and curves backward.

Pilot whales live in oceans nearly worldwide. Long-finned pilot whales prefer cooler waters, found in the Southern Ocean and the North Atlantic, while short-finned pilot whales live in warmer, temperate and tropical waters of the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans.

Pilot whales live in tight, stable family groups of 10 to 30, sometimes more than 100. They use clicks to find food and whistles and other calls to stay in contact with their group.

Short-finned pilot whales are known to forage as deep as around 800 metres.

Pilot whales have one of the longest gaps between births of any whale or dolphin, calving only once every three to five years. Calves nurse for years, sometimes taking milk until they are well over ten years old.

harmless to humans

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  Long-finned pilot whale

  Globicephala melas

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  Short-finned pilot whale

  Globicephala macrorhynchus