Grinds are large dolphins. Grinda the ball-headed dolphin Debunking a fake about the massacre of dolphins in Denmark

The scientific name of the grind translates as "round-headed" and corresponds to appearance these marine mammals. Grinds are large dolphins.
DIMENSIONS . Length and weight: regular pilot whale: male - up to 6.5 m, 3,000 kg, female - up to 5.5 m, 1,800 kg tropical pilot whale: male - up to 5.5 m, 2,500 kg, female - 4, 5 m, 1200 kg.

BREEDING
Puberty: male at 12, female - at 6-7 years.
mating season: all year round.
Pregnancy: 15-16 months.
Number of cubs: 1.

LIFESTYLE
Habits: social animals. They live in groups of 40 to several hundred individuals.
Food: fish and shellfish.
Sounds: varied.
Lifespan: up to 50 years.
Grinds live in all seas of the northern and temperate zones of the World Ocean. They mate in warm seas. In total, three types of grind are known: ordinary, black, or Pacific, and tropical. Sometimes these animals are called round-headed or black dolphins. Animals are easy to train, so they often take part in dolphinarium programs.
REPRODUCTION. In winter, greenleys from their permanent places of residence are sent to warm waters to give rise to a new generation. Cubs are born the following year after returning to cool areas.
The mating period of pilot whales is unlimited, but most cubs are born at the end of summer. Before mating, pilot whales fight fierce battles for the right to take possession of the female. Even courtship is not complete without minor injuries, although the animals try to behave very delicately: they stroke each other with their fins and swim side by side, clinging to each other. 15-16 months after mating, the female gives birth to one cub. The baby eats high-calorie milk and quickly gains weight. The duration of lactation is 20-21 months. However, already at the age of 9 months, the pilot whale cub hunts cephalopods. A one-year-old pilot whale is not yet ready for independent living. The fertility of pilot whales is very low, females give birth to cubs once every 3 years, despite the fact that their puberty occurs quite late: females begin to breed from 6, and males - from about 12 years. Grinds are considered adults from 18-20 years old.
LIFESTYLE. Grinds in the dolphin family are second in size after killer whales. The male of the common pilot whale reaches a length of 6.5 m. The pilot whales live in packs, sometimes there are several hundred animals. All members of the pack follow the leader. From time to time, cases of pilot whale suicides are repeated, which are thrown ashore in whole flocks. Some researchers believe that the navigation system of pilot whales, which hunt very close to the coast, may not work properly, as a result of which animals can navigate well. Other pilot whales usually come to the aid of an animal that is out of the water, therefore the whole flock dies.
Adult pilot whales swim at a speed of 4-6 km / h, and the leader of the pack - 8 km / h. Pilot whales and tropical pilot whales are often seen with other dolphin species.
Like other dolphins, the pilot whale can make vertical jumps above the water and turn on its side to look at the object that interests it. Grinds make many sounds, among them smacking, high-frequency whistles, squeaks.
FOOD. Grinds feed mainly on fish. On the upper jaw of an ordinary pilot whale there are 8-11 pairs of teeth, and on the lower jaw there are 9-12 pairs (less in tropical ones), with which the animal holds slippery prey: squid and fish, among which flounder and cod predominate. An adult pilot whale needs about 3 kg of food daily.
Grinds swim near the surface of the water, emerging from time to time to take air into the lungs. When hunting, pilot whales dive to a depth of 60 m and can remain under water for up to 10 minutes. Chasing squids, animals often swim close to the shore. Grinds hunt in packs, looking for prey using echolocation, that is, the emission, reflection and reception of high-frequency sound signals. The signals are usually tuned to a certain type of prey, so the grinders receive all the information about the prey by the type of reflected high-frequency sounds: location, size and speed of its movement.
Did you know?? Grinds do not leave a wounded comrade, helping him to stay afloat and keep up with the pack. Sometimes common pilot whales are also called "singing whales" because they make a variety of sounds.
The defensive tactics of some octopuses, based on disappearance in an ink cloud, in relation to pilot whales turns out to be ineffective, since black dolphins search for prey using echolocation.
Pilot whales feed their cubs with very high-calorie milk containing 40-50% fat (fat content of cow's milk averages 4%). In case of danger, pilot whales can reach speeds of up to 40 km / h.

CHARACTERISTICS. Respiratory opening: the only opening through which, during the raising of animals to the surface, air enters the lungs atmospheric air. The "geyser" on the pilot whale's head consists mainly of water vapor and fat droplets, which are secreted by glands located around the breathers.
Skin: The only decoration on the black shiny skin of the pilot whale is a white anchor pattern on the belly and a spot on the chest.
Dorsal fin: short, wide at the base, sickle-shaped.
Chairman: Under the noticeably prominent forehead is an echo sounder (sonar), with the help of which the pilot whale determines the location of prey.
Pectoral fins: long, narrow, sickle-shaped.
Hatchling: born in the water tail first. The mother immediately brings him to the surface so that he can inhale the air.
LIVING PLACE. Northern population of pilot whales living in temperate zone northern part Atlantic Ocean from Canada to the Scandinavian Peninsula; southern - in the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean; tropical pilot whale - in the warm zones of the oceans.
Preservation. The population of the common pilot whale is rapidly declining. In some areas, pilot whales are still an object of constant fishing.

Globicephala melas (Long-finned Pilot Whale)
Order Cetaceans - Cetacea
Suborder toothed whales(Odontoceti)
Dolphin family - Delphinidae
Genus Grinda (Globicephala)

long-finned(Globicephala melaena, Long-finned pilot whale) pilot whale. One of the largest members of the true dolphin family.
The common pilot whale differs from other dolphins in a huge fatty pad on the forehead, giving the head a spherical shape, and a low dorsal fin that is strongly displaced forward.

general information

• habitation- near the shore and open water.
• View status- common.
• Group size - 10-50.
• Location of the dorsal fin- shifted forward.
• Newborn weight- 75 kg.
• Adult weight- 1.8-3.5 tons.
• Newborn length- 1.8-2 m.
• adult length- 3.8-6 m.
• Lifespan- females live up to 50 years.
• Food- main food - squid, additional - fish (mackerel, etc.).

area

Pilot whales prefer the open sea and are only occasionally found near the coast.

Distributed in the North Atlantic, from South Greenland, Canada and Norway to mediterranean sea. In the tropics it is replaced by another species, and in the temperate waters of the southern hemisphere it appears again - near South Africa, South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Peru to the northern part of Antarctica (Kerguelen, Falkland Islands).

species abundance significant. Regularly and for a long time they are mined off the coast of Newfoundland and the Faroe Islands (herds are driven out onto a sloping coast), and irregularly - in Norway, on the Shetland, Hebrides and Orkney Islands.

View status - common.

Appearance

Main features: the head is spherical, as if swollen from above, the flippers are attached very low and look like sickles, the dorsal fin is shifted to the right, the intermaxillary bones are very wide and cover the maxillary ones.

The body is not spindle-shaped, as in other species, but compressed from the sides, the back is, starting from the head to the beginning of the caudal fin, an almost straight line that descends steeply down to the tail; belly, especially in front, very convex; the lateral lines of the body are in the form of sloping arcs converging near the tail.

The rather high dorsal fin is wide at the base, its front side is almost straight at the bottom, and at the top it curves back in an arc, its back side has a rather deep notch.

The flippers are attached close to the head, very narrowed at the base, their outer edge forms a regular arc, the ends are pointed, the back side forms at first a rounded protrusion, and then it curves crescent-shaped towards the end of the flipper, which thus takes the form of a short braid.

The rather large double-sided caudal fin is rounded on the outside, and has a deep notch in the back in the middle.

Small eyes lie above the corner of the mouth; the semilunar blowhole is located one-eighth of the length of the body, counting from the front.

The mouth is a slit located obliquely, from front to back; on each jaw, in rather large intervals, sit from 12-14 large and thick cone-shaped teeth, the sharp tips of which are directed back and inward; these teeth increase in length and thickness from front to back, and when the jaws are closed, the upper teeth fall between the lower ones. The teeth, however, protrude from the jaws a little more than one centimeter and, apparently, are not very strong, since they are not only easily worn out, but in adult animals they often fall out completely.

The naked, smooth and shiny skin is pure black above and grayish black below, but there is almost always a wide white heart-shaped spot on the throat, the tip of which is directed backwards; sometimes, in some specimens, this spot turns into a narrow strip that stretches along the stomach almost to the anus. On the belly there is a white pattern in the form of an anchor.

Very old males reach 6-7 m in length, but most are 1-1.5 m less. In pilot whales reaching 6 m in length, the body circumference in the thickest place is up to 3 m, the length of the flipper is 1.6 m, the width of the flipper is 50 cm, the height of the dorsal fin is 1.3 m, the width of the caudal fin is 1.8 m. The mass of the largest males reaches 3 tons.

Lifestyle and nutrition

Although almost every year the pilot whale is thrown ashore on some northern island, however, we still have only very incomplete information.

Seasonal migrations of pilot whales have been little studied. They have a very developed herd instinct and the instinct to preserve the species. Groups do not break up when they are in danger, and when even one individual dries up, the whole herd can die, rushing to help a relative in response to his distress signals.

In the sea, young pilot whales (2-3 m long) gather in separate groups. Females in the last stage of pregnancy, lactating females and bachelor herds of large individuals of both sexes (possibly old individuals) also separate.

They come close to the shores when hunting for flocks of cephalopods. Grinds are capable of speeds up to 40 km/h. They dive to a depth of 600 m. Pilot whales are active at night, preferring to spend the day in hibernation.

feed on pilot whales are almost exclusively squid, but if they are not available, they can also eat fish.

He quickly gets used to a person, learns various tricks in aquariums. In captivity, an adult pilot whale eats about 30 kg of food per day. In 4 months, a young pilot whale can increase by 30 cm.

It is characterized by a variety of signals: high-frequency whistles, smacking, squeaks, sounds of prolonged belching, whimpering, etc.

cubs

The oldest (judging by the teeth and ovaries) females live up to 50 years and give birth up to 9 times during this time. Length of pregnancy- 15-16 months. Males are born 183 cm long, females - 176 cm.

In Canada, it has been established that sucklings begin to feed on cephalopods at the age of 6-9 months, but finish milk feeding only at 21-22 months.

Females mature at 6-7 years old, with a length of 350-370 cm, and males at 12 years old, with a length of 490 cm. They grow completely only at 18-20 years old. The entire sexual cycle takes at least three years.

Pilot whale and human

The common pilot whale easily gets used to a person and is often kept in aquariums.

There are known cases of pilot whale attacks on humans. In one of them, the divers treated the animal too boldly, after which the furious pilot whale grabbed one of the women by the leg, dragged her along to the depth, and then surfaced with her. Fortunately, the diver was not seriously injured and was released on the surface. Grinds are wild animals with which free handling is not allowed.

Word "grinda" comes from Faroese. The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous province of Denmark, are descendants of the Vikings. Pilot whales have formed the basis of their diet for over a thousand years. The Faroe Islands do not participate in commercial pilot whale hunting - all meat obtained is divided equally between local communities and eaten.

Most Faroese consider pilot whale fishing important part their culture and history. Animal rights activists routinely criticize this tradition as , to which whalers argue that most advocates and journalists demonstrate a lack of knowledge about local traditions and the economic importance of the fishery.

(Globicephala) of the dolphin family ( Delphinidae).

Appearance

The most characteristic feature of common pilot whales is their large, melon-shaped head. This form does not appear immediately after birth, but only after puberty. The color is mostly black, with a saddle-shaped gray spot behind the dorsal fin. The body length of males can reach 8.5 m, averaging 6 m; weight up to 3 800 kg. Females are smaller in size: the maximum body length is 6 m, the average is 4.8 m, and the weight is up to 1,800 kg.

Behavior

Pilot whales are social animals that live in packs. Such flocks include from 10 to 50 animals, sometimes more than 1,000. As a rule, females are larger, since males have high level mortality, and leave the flock as soon as they reach sexual maturity.

Grinds are nomadic animals, moving on large areas during the whole year. These movements play a different role, for example, for the extraction of food.

To communicate with each other, ordinary grinds use the language of sounds. These signals are quite simple during rest, but when danger or prey approaches, the sounds become more complex. Sounds are also used by animals in echolocation, which allows whales to navigate in space.

Food

reproduction

Mating can take place at any time of the year, but the peak mating season is from April to June. Females are able to breed from the age of 6. Males reach sexual maturity much later - at 12 years old. Pregnancy lasts 16 months, 1 cub is born. The weight of the newborn is about 100 kg, the body length is about 1.8 m. Weaning occurs at the age of 23-27 months. After that, the female is able to give birth only after 4 years.

The maximum life expectancy for females is 59 years, for males - 46 years.

Recently I came across an article on one of the popular sites with a cute name
"10 Dangerous Animals That Don't Look Dangerous" and an intriguing preamble:

"Some wild animals are not considered dangerous, and on the contrary - we consider them friendly. Animals that we often meet, and sometimes we do not even suspect how dangerous these creatures can be..."

I read the article in full and I had doubts about the validity of the accusations against ten animals of aggression towards humans. I decided to conduct my own independent investigation, and then to acquaint you, my dear and respected readers, with its results. Here is case number 1. The pilot whale is accused of aggression against a person. It is ready for a hearing in court.)) I open the court session and invite you, dear readers, to attend it as jurors who are to deliver a verdict on this case. If you don't mind, let's proceed to the hearing, gentlemen of the jury.
I am filing a claim:

Keith is a pilot.
"We always respect marine mammals due to their amazing strength and size, but we do not consider them aggressive.
Smooth pilot whale or pilot whale resembling big dolphin, a fearsome exception to the rule. It looks like a small whale, but its character is worthy of the novels of Herman Merville.
The marine animal has a bad reputation with marine biologists. Grinds can show an aggressive nature when meeting people. There was a case when a pilot whale, straying from a flock, grabbed a man by the thigh and dragged him 10 meters through the water. Luckily, the man survived."

Note. Punctuation marks, style and spelling in the text of the statement are left unchanged.

Let's proceed to the consideration of the case on the merits of the charges and the specific case of an attack on a person. During the investigation, it was possible to find out that the incident actually took place under the following circumstances:

"... the divers treated the animal too boldly, after which the furious pilot whale grabbed one of the women by the leg, pulled her along to the depths, and then surfaced with her. Fortunately, the diver was not seriously injured and was released on the surface. Grinds - These are wild animals, with which free handling is not allowed.
http://www.zoopicture.ru/grinda/
Conclusion:
In this particular case, the attack on a person was provoked by the person himself, and the behavior of the animal was adequate to the situation, and there is no reason to talk about the unmistakable aggression of the animal. In what cases is it worth waiting for aggression from the side of the animal - in case of violation of his rights given to him by nature, namely: the right to get his own food by hunting and the right to defend his territory and his offspring. And one more thing - the stay of the animal in captivity in conditions significantly different from natural conditions his habitat. A reasonable person should know about this if he does not want to be subjected to violence by an animal, any animal, and specifically by the accused pilot whale (grind). According to people who have been in contact with the pilot whale, this animal is different friendly character. Amenable to training.

Let's get to know the pilot whale better. As the saying goes, it's better to see once than hear a hundred times. I bring to your attention an overview of several publications on given topic, made by me for you. Based on the article "Grinds or "pilot whales" (lat. Globicephala)", published
October 30, 2010 by Helga. The text includes additions from other sources, links to which are given at the end of the post. So Grind. What is a "wonder-yudo-fish-whale"?

Grinda is a marine animal.
Grinda is better known to us as a pilot whale. Kind of grinda along with others
Dolphins are part of the dolphin family. The dolphin family is part of
orders of cetaceans. The suborder is called "toothed whales". And our pilot whale is quite toothy: after all, it feeds on those seafood that need to be grabbed and chewed.

You can meet them all over the oceans. Grinds are distinguished by a friendly character, and they have a very highly developed social behavior which, at times, can lead to disastrous consequences.

There are 2 species of these animals: the common pilot whale (Globicephala melas) and the short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus). Each of them has its own habitats: the short-finned pilot whale prefers tropical and subtropical seas ( South Africa, South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand etc.), while the pilot whale chooses temperate waters (from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea). Grinds, unlike dolphins, do not approach the coast, but swim in the open sea.

Unlike dolphins, which have an elongated muzzle, pilot whales have a rounded head shape with a short muzzle. Almost all animals are painted jet black, and under the chin they have a small white spot, shaped like an anchor.

During the day, these animals mostly sleep, and at night they begin to hunt. Their favorite food is cephalopods- squid, octopus, cuttlefish. Fish are eaten less often. In pursuit of prey, they can reach speeds of up to 40 km / h. With such powerful dimensions, this is a very decent speed of movement.

In search of food, they can descend to a depth of 600 meters and at the same time hold their breath for 10 minutes.

Like many large mammals, pilot whale pregnancy lasts a long time - 15-16 months. Females give birth every 3-5 years. Newborn pilot whales can reach 1.5 meters in length and weigh about 100 kg!!! It takes more than a year and a half to feed such a “crumbs” with milk. The childbearing period in females can last until old age - up to 50 years. During this time, they give birth up to 9 times. Puberty of females occurs by 6-7 years, and in males - by 12.

Pilot whales have a highly developed social behavior. They live in small groups of about 20 individuals. Each group has a leader whose commands are carried out unquestioningly. Old individuals, pregnant females and females with cubs form separate groups. Pilot whales communicate using various signals - whistles, squeaks, smacks, whimpers, etc.

In addition, they have a highly developed instinct for the preservation of the species. They will never leave a relative in trouble. Sometimes this leads to sad consequences. There are cases when a pilot whale thrown ashore called for help, and the whole “family” was thrown onto land in the hope of helping the poor fellow. As a result, all animals died from dehydration. Very sad.

Washed ashore pilot whale

The main enemy of the grind is a man. Pilot whales have been hunted throughout the history of mankind. Moreover, they hunt everywhere - in all parts of the world. Meat, fat, bones, fertilizer - what people turned these animals into for the sake of their own survival or enrichment. Hunting methods are varied everywhere, including savage ones: to drive animals to the shore with stones, where they can finish them off. They are also caught with a harpoon, often the pilot whales themselves become entangled in the nets. Indeed, man in cruelty has no equal.

In Iceland, beer was brewed from whales. Ecologists in shock

The Icelandic brewing company Steojar, together with the whaling company Hvalur, specially for the local winter festival released a beer with a strength of 5.2% with an extract of whale meat. Producers claim that this is a drink "for real Vikings", and environmentalists consider it a crime, reports the Mirror.

According to Steojar, the "whale" drink is good for health, as the meat of these mammals contains a lot of protein, little fat and no sugar. However, representatives of the whale and dolphin conservation movement opposed the production of this product, saying that it is unacceptable to "transfer the meat of endangered animals into dog food."

"On the one hand, the demand for whale meat is now quite low, on the other hand, think about how humanely it is to kill a large, beautiful and intelligent animal that could live to be 90 years old for the sake of a bottle of beer?" says animal rights activist Vanessa Williams-Grey.

The opinion of Steojar and Hvalur employees on this issue is not given. It is also unknown whether the environmentalists are going to sue the representatives of these companies.
January 10, 2914"

Conventions for the protection of these animals are followed only in Spain. And the pilot whales respond with confidence to the Spaniards, staying right at the very coast of the islands in the Atlantic.

So far, pilot whales are not considered an endangered species, but this is only for now. They are constantly hunted, and every year pilot whales are destroyed by several tens of thousands.

However, pilot whales are not an endangered species - the exact numbers of their numbers are unknown, it is believed that more than a million worldwide (or in all waters). But where there is a hunt, pilot whales are destroyed by tens of thousands. So (God forbid, of course), one day it may happen, as in Yuli Kim's song:

In the far north
Whale fish roam
And behind her on the seiner
The fishermen are walking.

No whale No whale
No whale, not visible
Here's the trouble, here's the trouble
What a shame!

I do not want to say goodbye to you, my friends, on such a sad note. Let's be optimists! Near
good lives evil - this is how our world works. But good conquers evil, otherwise we wouldn't exist anymore. In conclusion of our meeting, I propose to get acquainted with the impressions of a tourist from a meeting with our today's hero, a pilot whale.

Tarifa is the southernmost point of Europe, the place where the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, from which in just 30 minutes by ferry you can swim to the coast of Africa, to Tangier.

Since the Strait of Gibraltar is the habitat of many marine animals, sea excursions are organized in Tarifa, something like a sea safari. On special boats, the excursion goes out to the sea-ocean, special assistants look out for flocks of these animals through binoculars, come closer to them and turn off the engine so that they can swim closer.

We managed to see 2 species - dolphins and pilot whales. Dolphins no longer surprise anyone, but when we approached a whole flock of pilot whales, each of which is under 7 meters, the whole ship exhaled admiringly "Ah". That was incredible. They came very close to the ship, dived under it, and allowed themselves to be photographed.

At first glance, pilot whales seem a bit clumsy. The movements are slightly slow, measured. But in fact, pilot whales are very fast - the speed is about 40 kilometers per hour with sizes up to 8 meters long and weighing up to 3 tons. The most graceful creatures are females. They are almost half the size and slimmer. But they live longer - their 60 years against the "male" 45.
They eat fish, octopuses, cuttlefish. But the most favorite treat- squids. They have enough and 30-40 teeth, so as not to experience problems with digestion.
Just like killer whales, pilot whales are peaceful, almost friendly, behave in captivity, they can be trained. Moreover, to train not only in the performance of circus numbers, but also in scientific purposes. One such pilot whale with the glorious name Morgan was able to get signaling devices from the seabed (moreover, from great depths). These animals are very social. They live only in groups led by the leader (there is a version that the name "pilot whale" is associated precisely with the moment of submission to the leader). But most often these groups, one way or another, observe a certain nepotism. True, it is believed that separate “bachelor herds” can also form. Grinds even often organize their hunt. For example, a common scene: they surround the victim, prompting each other with the next maneuvers with whistles of a certain tone.
But it is not uncommon for pilot whales to wash ashore in their group. The reasons for this phenomenon are still not well known. Pilot whales have been hunted throughout the history of mankind. Moreover, they hunt everywhere - in all parts of the world.

Used sources.

• Class: Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 = Mammals
• Infraclass: Eutheria, Placentalia Gill, 1872 = Placental, higher animals
• Order: Cetacea Brisson, 1762 = Cetaceans
• Suborder: Odontoceti Flower, 1867 = Toothed whales
• Family: Delphinidae Gray, 1821 = Dolphins
• Genus: Globicephala Lesson, 1828 = Grinds, black dolphins, ball-headed dolphins
• Species: Globicephala melas Traill, 1809 = Pilot whale, northern pilot whale, black pilot whale, black dolphin, ball-headed dolphin, or round-headed whale

Species: Globicephala melas Traill, 1809 = Pilot whale, northern pilot whale, black pilot whale, black dolphin, ball-headed dolphin, or round-headed whale

The common pilot whale, or as it is also called the northern or black pilot whale, is one of two species of marine mammals (dolphins) from the genus pilot whale = Globicephala. Large head, shaped like a melon, most feature ordinary pilot whales. The formation of a head of this shape does not occur immediately after birth, but only after puberty.

Common pilot whales live in the waters of temperate and subpolar zones. They are found both at great depths and in coastal waters northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Pilot whales live in the North Sea, as well as in the warm Mediterranean Sea. Now ordinary nits are not found in the Pacific Ocean, although they were previously found in its northwestern part, where they are no longer present. But around the Antarctic, pilot whales are quite common, they penetrate quite far south, up to 68 ° south latitude, although they are not frequent guests here.

The body of the common pilot whale is mostly black, with a saddle-shaped gray spot located behind the dorsal fin. There are gender differences. So, the body length of males can reach 8.5 m, but on average it is 6 m; while females are smaller: the maximum body length is 6 m, and the average is 4.8 m. The mass of males reaches 3800 kg, while in females the body weight does not exceed 1800 kg.

Pilot whales, as social animals, live in packs that include 10 to 50 animals. Very seldom used to be met steppe with more than 1000 individuals. Females tend to be more numerous as males have a high mortality rate and leave the pack as soon as they reach sexual maturity. Pilot whales are nomadic animals, moving over large areas throughout the year. These movements play a different role, for example, for the extraction of food. To communicate with each other, ordinary grinds use various sound whistles. These whistles are fairly simple when resting, but become more complex as danger or prey approaches. They are also used in echolocation, which allows whales to navigate in space.

Pilot whales, like other dolphins, are carnivores. The basis of their diet is mainly shellfish and fish, in particular cod, mackerel, herring. The favorite food of common pilot whales are squids. On average, one adult animal eats about 34 kg of animal food per day.

Mating takes place between members of the pack. During courtship, males behave aggressively with each other, clash their heads on high speed. polygamous look. Mating can take place at any time of the year, but the peak mating season is from April to June. Females are able to breed from the age of 6. Males reach sexual maturity much later - at 12 years old. Pregnancy lasts 16 months, 1 cub is born. The weight of the newborn is about 100 kg, the body length is about 1.8 m. Weaning occurs at the age of 23-27 months. After that, the female is able to give birth only after 4 years. The maximum life expectancy for females is 59 years, for males - 46 years.

Studies conducted in 1987 and 1989 showed that there were about 750,000 pilot whales in the central and northeastern Atlantic, and about 200,000 in the northeastern part. Around Antarctica, the number of pilot whales is estimated at approximately 31,000 individuals. Any evidence of global change there are no populations of this species. Fishing for common pilot whales is carried out in the Faroe Islands and Greenland. And although fishing has been carried out since the 9th century, it did not cause a decrease in the number of animals, as happened in Newfoundland. The average annual catch in the Faroe Islands is estimated at approximately 850 individuals.