Short-finned Pilot Whales in Hawaii (provided by the Wild
Dolphin Foundation)
Listen to Pilot Whale Sounds | View Pilot Whale Video | Pilot Whales and Oceanic Whitetip Sharks | Pilot Whale Pics
"The pilot whales are taking a time-out. Basking beneath the morning sun, they look like a raft of giant ebony logs, with just their dorsal fins and blowholes bobbing above gently lapping waters.
It would be easy for passing whale watchers to get the wrong impression, for these intelligent, powerfully built animals are far from idle. This is a well earned rest , having spent the pre-dawn hours chasing squid off Oahu's Waianae coast. It was a successful night; one they are quietly digesting." National Geographic, Crittercam
The pilot whale genus is part of the dolphin family (Delphinidae) although their behaviour is closer to that of the larger whales.
Short-finned pilot whales often occur in groups of 25 to 50 animal. They are often found in pods with one mature male to about every eight mature females. Males generally leave their birth school, while females may remain in theirs for their entire lifetime.
| Pilot whales are large, with bulbous heads, especially in adult males. The dorsal fin is low and falcate, with a very wide base (varying with age and sex). The flippers are long and sickle-shaped, up to 1/6 of the body length. |
Pods can be up to several hundred, and members of this highly social species are almost never seen alone. Strong social bonds may partially explain why pilot whales are among the species of cetaceans that most frequently mass-strand.
In the Hawaiian Archipelago, short-finned pilot whales stranded in the largest groups and experienced the greatest number of recorded stranding events of all cetaceans from 1957 through 1998.
There are three types of social organization for pilot whale pods: travelling/hunting groups, feeding groups, and loafing groups. Oceanic white tip sharks will often associate with pods of pilot whales, following the whales while they hunt, and feeding on the remains resulting from the whales attacks on schooling fish.
Travelling/hunting groups: 
Have also been appropriately described as "chorus lines" as animals are oriented in a broad rank of up to 2 miles in width, but only a few animals deep. Subgroups of gender or age-related animals are common. They are quite active and will frequently lobtail, spyhop and approach boats
Feeding groups: There may be general movement of whales in a given direction, but individuals tend to remain fairly independent of one another.
Loafing group: 12-30 or more individuals, floating at the surface almost stationary, nearly or actually touching one another. A wide variety of types of behaviour, including mating and spy-hopping may be seen. Entire pods can sometimes be seen logging, allowing close approach by boats. The strong blow may be visible in calm weather.
Our wildlife tours focus on education and conservation so that an
interactive relationship can be maintained in the best interest of
both humans and dolphins. We teach admiration and deep respect for
these wonderful mammals. Below are descriptions of daytime behaviors
spinners frequently engage in. Pictures were taken during our dolphin
encounter charters.
Swimming with Pilot Whales (not!), video
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