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Reports of
mass stranding of marine mammals usually refers to this
species and mostly in the
Atlantic Ocean (Irvine et al. 1979). Stranding is rare on
the North American Pacific and the reports are usually of
individuals that are probably ill (Wilson and Ruff 1999).
However, pilot whales becomes stranded quite regularly in
Australia. No one knows why strandings occur. Whales
returned to the ocean often strand elsewhere along the beach.
The
short-finned pilot whale is widespread and numerous (Donovan
et al. 1993). Pilot whale males are larger than females. The
length of males is 5.5 meters long and females are 4.25 meters
long, on average (Wilson and Ruff 1999). Males weigh 3000
kilograms and females up to 1500 kilograms.
References
Donovan, G. P., C. H. Lockyer, and A. R. Martin. 1993.
Biology
of Northern Hemisphere Pilot Whales: A Collection of Papers.
Reports of the International Whaling Commission, Special Issue
14.
Cambridge.
Irvine, A. B.,
M. D. Scott, R.G. Wells and J. G. Mead. 1979. Stranding of the
pilot whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus, in Florida and
South Carolina. Fishery Bulletin 77:511-513.
Reeves, R. R., B. Stewart, P. Clapham and J. Powell. 2002.
Guide to marine mammals of the world. Alfred A. Knopf, New
York.
Wilson, D. E. and S. Ruff 1999. The Smithsonian book of North
American mammals. University of British Columbia Press,
Vancouver, BC
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