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killer whale or grampus a large, rapacious marine mammal, Orcinus orca, of the dolphin family. Male killer whales may reach a length of 30 ft (9 m) and females half that length. The killer whale is black above, with a sharply contrasting white oval patch around each eye; its belly is white with white markings projecting up along the animal's sides. It has a high, triangular dorsal fin midway between head and tail, and broad, paddle-shaped flippers. The killer whale is worldwide in distribution. It is a swift and ferocious animal, armed with more than four dozen sharp teeth, and is the only cetacean that feeds regularly on birds or mammals. Killer whales eat seals, sea birds, and fish, and in packs they will even attack larger whales. The female gives birth to a single calf, up to 7 ft (2.1 m) long, following a gestation period of approximately one year. Females mature in 6 to 7 years, males in 12. They are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Cetacea, family Delphinidae. Pilot Whale pilot whale any of a genus ( Globicephala ) of small, mostly black, toothed whales found in most seas. Some authorities recognize only one species in the genus; others recognize two or three different species. Right Whale right whale 1 a large, thickset, black baleen whale ( Balaena glacialis ) of the northern hemisphere, having a large head, a thick lower lip that curves upward in a high bow on each side, and a very thick layer of blubber. It is an endangered species. 2 any other whale of the same family (Balaenidae). Right whales lack the throat grooves of other baleen whales. probably from the fact that these whales are large and slow-moving and therefore `right' for hunting in the early days of whaling with sailing ships and hand harpoons Endangered Whales Because of overexploitation, several species are rare, eg, bowhead (Balaena mysticetus), an arctic mysticete; right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), a temperate zone mysticete; and blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), largest animal ever known. The grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) was extirpated in the N Atlantic and depleted in the N Pacific. Today, however, its migration along the N American Pacific coast is one of the world's great wildlife spectacles. The cosmopolitan sperm whale (Physeter catodon), the largest odontocete, preys mainly on SQUID and usually remains in deep water. Adult bulls seasonally visit high latitudes; females and young remain in temperate or tropical waters. The beaked whales (family Ziphiidae) are rare in coastal areas, but Baird's beaked whale (Berardius bairdii) off the BC coast, and the northern bottlenose (Hyperoodon ampullatus) off NS, have been hunted by shore-based whalers.
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