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pilot whale
(redirected from Pilot whales)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.

pilot whale

Any of one to three species (genus Globicephala, family Delphinidae) of toothed whale found in all oceans except the Arctic and Antarctic, also called caa'ing whale for a roaring sound it makes when stranded. It is black, usually with a lighter splash on the throat and chest, and has a round, bulging forehead, a short beaklike snout, and slender, pointed flippers, and grows to 13–20 ft (4–6 m) long. Pilot whales live in large schools, sometimes hundreds or thousands, feeding mainly on squid. They have been kept in oceanariums and trained to perform.



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The Faroese traditionally hunted pilot whales, and some still eat the animals' blubber, which is heavily contaminated with PCBs.
There is a long tradition of hunting pilot whales (Globicephala melas), with records back to 1709 (Faroe Government 2004).
When some 28 pilot whales mysteriously beached themselves in less than two feet of water in the Florida Keys this summer, dozens of volunteers, including TowBoatU.
 
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