False killer whale
| False killer whale | |
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| Size compared to an average human | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Delphinidae |
| Genus: |
Pseudorca Reinhardt, 1862 |
| Species: | P. crassidens |
| Binomial name | |
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Pseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846) |
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| False killer whale range | |
The false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) is the fourth-largest dolphin, a member of Delphinidae, the oceanic dolphin family. It lives in temperate and tropical waters throughout the world. As its name implies, the false killer whale shares characteristics with the more widely known killer whale (Orcinus orca), though the species belong to different genera within Delphinidae; as well as similarities in appearance, both species attack and kill other marine mammals. The false killer whale has not been studied extensively in the wild; much of the data about it have been derived by examining stranded false killer whales.
The false killer whale was first described by the British paleontologist and biologist Richard Owen in his 1846 book A history of British fossil mammals and birds. He based this work on a fossil discovered in 1843 in the great fen at the neighourhood of Stamford, Lincolnshire. Owen proposed to name the cetacean Phocaena crassidens, and by comparing its characteristics and dimensions, noted a general resemblance to those of the "grampus" or "Phocaena orca" (killer whale) and the "round-headed porpoise" or "Phocaena melas" (long-finned pilot whale).
The species was thought extinct until Johannes Reinhardt confirmed it was living when he described a large pod at the Kiel Bay in 1861. One of these was captured, and others were found the following year beached on the coast of Denmark.
The false killer whale appears to have a widespread, if small, presence in tropical and semitropical oceanic waters. A few have been found in temperate water, but these are probably stray individuals. Their most common habitat is the open ocean, though they also frequent other areas. They have been sighted in fairly shallow waters such as the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea, as well as the Atlantic Ocean (from Scotland to Argentina), the Indian Ocean (in coastal regions and around the Lakshadweep Islands), the Pacific Ocean (from the Sea of Japan to New Zealand and the tropical area of the eastern side), and in Hawaii. Recently, a pod of false killer whales was observed hunting down a small species of shark in Australia.
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Wikipedia