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PILOT WHALE

SCIENTIFIC NAME - Globicephala from the latin globus "sphere" and from the greek kephalé "head", melas from the greek "black"; so "spherical black head".
FAMILY - Delphinidae
DIMENSIONS - The female is smaller of the male, medium length 6 mt, maximum 7.5 mt, the maximum weight 2 t.
ASPECT - Body a lot lengthened; spherical head; large melon and rounded and rostrum hardly visible; small dorsal fin, with base bigger of the height, rounded apex and concave posterior margin, in advanced position; pectoral fins lengthened and with a scythe shape; caudal peduncle with advanced margin a lot convex.
SKIN and COLORATION - Black or tawny, the young clear brown, white speck on the abdomen, shadings of gray sometimes behind the dorsal fin and to sides of the eyes.
LONGEVITY - Some experts assume until 50 years.
REPRODUCTION - They reproduce towards April-june with a gestation of approximately 15 months. Often the birth is assisted from the members of the shoal. To the birth the puppy measure approximately 1.8 mt and hung approximately 100 Kg.
TEETH - Medium 40, conical ones and strong, until 1.5 cm of diameter.
BREATH - Small and little visible.

SOUNDS - Three types of emissions: 

1° click, used emissions of short duration for the biosonar. 

2° it hisses modulated. 

3° sounds to impulses. 

The emissions of which to number 2 and 3 they constitute the dictionary of the Pilot whale, used in order to communicate. Every copy seems to possess hisses that marks them.

FEEDING - The diet of the Pilot whale is mostly composed from squids but sometimes also fish (Clears, eels etc.) (Vd. (Vd. Feeding).
HABITAT - Pelagic Cetacean loves deep and moderated waters or cold ones, not the tropical ones.
SWIM - It's a cetacean that to the occurrence, like all the dolphins, is able to be very fast (35 Km/h - 19 nodes) and agile, but normally swims enough slowly in surface with constant respiratory emersions, in very compact groups. Able of remarkable immersions (-600 mt) beginning which often extracts the tail from the water. Sometimes they extract the head from the water for guardarsi round (spyhopping).
TEETH - They Carry out enough spectacular jumps with the total emersion of the body from the water and dive of head e and on the back.
MIGRATIONS - They make seasonal movements not Complete migrations. In the Mediterranean from the zone of Gibilterra in which they are present all the year they are moved in summer towards the zones that they preprefer like the Ligurian sea
SOCIALITY - They form branches of several tens of individuals sometimes also hundred, the females never abandon the branch, the males instead seem that occasionally are coupled with females of various branches, the high sociality at the same time demonstrate in breast-feeding from part more females.
TEMPERAMENT - Much confiding and onlooker let himself to be easy taken from the panic (as demonstrates the beachings), does not have the common habit as the others dolphins of let himself be transported from the bow wave of the boats, but often it approach the same boats or the persons.
DANGER and PREDATORY - No assessed predator, sometimes victim of collectives beachings given the strong tie of branch.
SPECIES DIFFUSION - They don't attend tropical seas so exist two separated populations in every. In the Mediterranean rather common to the West ( Ligurian sea).
 
 
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