Pilot Whale Facts

Pilot Whale Profile

You would be forgiven for thinking the cucumber is a purely terrestrial organism. Sea cucumbers are just as juicy and twice as smart and are found solely in the marine environment. There are also lemon sharks down there, banana wrasse, and cauliflower jellyfish. 

But the melons are some of the most interesting. And perhaps the most cracking melons you’ll lay your eyes on are perched on the bonce of a pilot whale.   

Pilot whales were named because it was observed that their large aggregations appeared to be led by a single pilot. It probably isn’t true, but their scientific name, Globicephala, which means “bulbous head” is right on the money.

Pilot Whale Facts Overview

There are two species of pilot whale, barely distinguishable from one another yet genetically distinct. As their genus name suggests, they have well-developed echolocation organs on the front end.

These are used not only for navigation but as a way of communicating between individuals in what are highly social groups.

These squid-eating dolphins are quite popular in the community and are only really hunted by orcas and humans.

Interesting Pilot Whale Facts

1. There are two species

The long-fin and the short-fin pilot whales differ from one another in exactly the way you’d expect from the names, but this is a very subtle distinction, and when they’re in the water it’s hard to tell which one you’re looking at. 

They’re both dark grey or black, sometimes with a lighter saddle or a patch under the chin. They’re torpedo-shaped, like a porpoise, but are in fact members of the oceanic dolphin family, Delphinidae.

The melons in this species are actually bigger in the males, which makes a change, and gives them a characteristic rounded head. 

Longfins prefer the temperate and cold waters, while the shortfins aren’t so fussy and are found all over the place, including tropical and subtropical waters. ¹

2. They have outstanding melons

As dolphins, pilot whales sport an impressive set of melons, which are used to focus and amplify sound, in the form of clicks and whistles, and the whales use these to find their way around.

Like in bats, this is a form of echolocation and creates a sonar-based image around the animal so it can navigate and feed in the dark. These melons are so big that the dolphins have been commonly referred to as potheads. 

But it’s not only used for echolocation – these are highly social animals, and use this intricate sound-making device to communicate with one another. 

What they’re saying remains a mystery to those who are interested, and not a particularly interesting one to those with all the money, which is why only small and tenacious groups like CETI are working on it. But what we do know is that they’re talking, rather than just communicating. 

Unlike many animals, who just sit and shout their template message, cetacean vocal language is intricate, with syntax, dialects, accents and sentences. All of this is possible as a result of the complex combination of the musculature and fat that makes up the cetacean melon. 

In pilot whales, males have significantly larger melons, yet nobody knows exactly why. They’re also much larger overall than females, exhibiting a strong sexual dimorphism more commonly seen in sperm whales. ²

3. They love squid

And like sperm whales, the pilot whale’s favourite food is squid.

Pilot whales will also eat some fish, but it’s very clear that much of their lives are dictated by the presence of the cephalopod type. 

Pilot whales will migrate 2,400 km a month following the movements of squid, and when El Niño disrupted squid spawning in one of their usual hotspots, the pilot whales were nowhere to be found. 

4. They’re sociable

But wherever they go, they love to go together. Not only do these whales gather in large groups of their own kind, but they enjoy sharing aggregations with other species, too. 

Common bottlenose dolphins are one of the most frequently seen friends of the pilot whales, and it makes you wonder whether they can understand one another to some degree. Many other dolphin species share aggregations with pilot whales, as do melon-headed whales that no doubt have a friendly rivalry going on, and larger species like fin whales, sperm whales and even killer whales. 

Though the relationship with some of these larger predators appears strained, and there are cases of pilot whales mobbing orcas, sperm whales and even common dolphins when the mood takes them. 

5. They’re full of mercury

As top predators, they’re natural reservoirs of heavy metals like mercury. In the ocean, unlike the land, pretty much everything is a predator, which means mercury gathered at the bottom of the food chain accumulates at the top in large amounts. 

Pilot whales appear to have a strong resistance to mercury poisoning, being able to store elevated levels of it in their tissues without too much trouble. ³

6. They are prone to strandings

It might be a product of their intricate navigation and communication systems that pilot whales appear to be particularly prone to strandings. 

There’s no question that loud anthropogenic sounds like naval sonar and seismic surveys cause significant disruption to cetaceans, with large-scale military exercises being particularly damaging.

Unfortunately, for pilot whales, mass strandings are quite common and stranded individuals almost always have damage to their inner ears. 

Despite this, for now, pilot whales are still prevalent all over the world and least concern to the IUCN. ^4
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Pilot Whale Fact-File Summary

Scientific Classification

1. “Short-Finned Pilot Whale”, NOAA Fisheries.
2. Paula A. Olson, “Pilot Whales: Globicephala melas and G. macrorhynchus”, Science Direct.
3. Olson, P. A (2009), “Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals”, Sci Hub.
4. Walter J. Brown Media Archives (2018), “Sonic Sea”, University of Georgia.
5. “Short-finned Pilot Whale”, IUCN Red List.