Species: Pseudorca crassidens

False Killer Whale
Species
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Mammalia

    Order

    Cetacea

    Family

    Delphinidae

    Genus

    Pseudorca

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    Orca Falsa, Falsa Ballena Asesina - pseudorque
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Whales and Dolphins
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Cetacea - Delphinidae - Pseudorca
    Habitat Type Description
    Marine
    Migration
    false - false - false - May make seasonal migrations into northern Pacific waters during spring-summer warming (Leatherwood and Reeves 1983).
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    false
    Food Comments
    Diet mainly squid and large fishes (Stacey et al. 1994), including some obtained from fishing lines. May attack dolphins released from purse seines in eastern tropical Pacific (Leatherwood and Reeves 1983).
    Reproduction Comments
    Protracted breeding season, reportedly with no fixed breeding or calving season, though a peak in calving in March was found off Japan. Gestation lasts about 15-16 months. Lactation lasts apparently about 18 months. Sexually mature at about 3.2-3.8 m (Leatherwood and Reeves 1983), probably at a minimum age of 8 years (IUCN 1991, Stacey et al. 1994). Off Japan, the average interval between births has been estimated at about 7 years, with females over 45 years old post-reproductive (see Stacey et al. 1994). May live several decades.
    Ecology Comments
    Gregarious, often in herds of >100 individuals; mean group size off Japan was 55; group size from 14 mass strandings (not uncommon) averaged 180 (50-835). Herds usually include both sexes and all age classes (or minus males in the late maturing stage) and appear to be socially cohesive. Often associates with other cetaceans (Leatherwood and Reeves 1983).
    Length
    550
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G4
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    1997-04-09
    Global Status Last Changed
    1997-04-09
    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?US.FL=SNR&US.GA=__&US.NC=__&US.OR=__&US.SC=SNR&US.TX=S1" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Widely distributed, though apparently nowhere abundant, in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate waters throughout the world. In the U.S. they occur in Hawaii, along the entire West Coast, and from the Mid-Atlantic coastal states south.
    Global Range Code
    H
    Global Range Description
    >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100838