![]() Pilot whales have been observed behaving aggressively toward some other cetacean species, including killer whales. Sources of natural mortality are not well documented for this species. ![]() They feed primarily on squid, but also eat a variety of fish species, including Atlantic cod, Greenland halibut, mackerel, herring and hake. Maximum diving performance of this species, during trained open-ocean sessions is about 600 m for approximately 15 min but no information is available from the wild. Pilot whales feed in a variety of ways, but sometimes form a broad, wide rank only a few animals deep that has been referred to as a ‘chorus line’. They are highly vocal and have complex acoustic signalling within the social group. The strong social bonds likely result in the group events, when one whale becomes stranded the others follow. It is not known why these whales (or other species) perform this behaviour. Stranding can involve single individuals, but often involves the whole pod. Pilot whales are one of the most frequently reported whales in events of mass stranding. Sometimes pilot whales associate with other species of dolphins forming mixed-species groups. But, males mate with unrelated individuals during times when various groups form huge aggregations. Both male and female offspring usually remain within their mother’s pod, likely throughout their lives. Large aggregations composed of hundreds of individuals form at times. Pod size appears to vary geographically, and mean pod size is difficult to determine with certainty in any case because individual pods often aggregate with others for periods of time. They will also eat bony fishes when they are. Pods are quite stable in their composition through time and members of a pod are highly related through maternal lines. Long-finned pilot whales are active predators that eat mostly squid, including relatively large-bodied species. Pilot whales are highly social and have a social organisation similar to killer whales. There are approximately one million long-finned pilot whales in the North Atlantic and most of these are in the Northeast Atlantic. International cooperation in the Arctic By far the more commonly seen species in cool temperate waters like ours is the long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas, which means black with a bulbous.International cooperation in Antarctica.
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