False Killer Whales: The Dolphin That Was Named From a Fossil

False killer whales, and how they were found

By William Drumm, underwater photographer and ocean ambassador

In 1846, Richard Owen described a new species from a skull dug out of the fens in Lincolnshire. It looked like an orca’s skull but it was not one, so he called it the false orca, and he recorded it as extinct.

It was not extinct. In 1861 a pod of them came ashore alive in Kiel Bay, and the scientific world discovered that it had classified a living animal as a fossil. That is how the false killer whale got its name, and it is a fair introduction to a species that almost everything about is misunderstood, starting with the fact that it is not a whale.

What Is a False Killer Whale?

Pseudorca crassidens is a large oceanic dolphin. The name translates, roughly, as the thick toothed false orca, which is a lot of insult for one animal to carry.

It is the third largest member of the dolphin family, behind the orca and the pilot whale, and like both of those it gets called a whale for no reason connected to biology. It is slender, uniformly dark grey, fast, and it lives in warm and temperate open ocean worldwide.

They are also, by most measures anyone has tried to apply, extremely intelligent, and if you get in the water with them you will know it within about ten seconds.

False Killer Whale vs Orca vs Pilot Whale

The name causes constant confusion. In practice these three are easy to separate.

• Orca. Much bigger, up to 26 feet. Unmistakable black and white markings and an enormous dorsal fin, especially on males. Found in every ocean including the polar seas.
• False killer whale. Up to about 20 feet, uniformly dark grey, slender and tapered, with a small curved dorsal fin. Warm and temperate water only. No markings.
• Pilot whale. Similar size, but with a bulbous, rounded, almost square head and a broad, low, forward set dorsal fin. Slower and heavier looking.

The resemblance that gave the false killer whale its name is in the skull. It is not something you would ever notice on a living animal.

How Big Are They?

Males run 18 to 20 feet and can pass 2,000 pounds. Females are smaller, around 15 feet. In the water they read as much bigger than that, because they come fast, they come close, and there are usually a lot of them.

The Stare

This is the thing people cannot get past, and it is real.

False killer whales make direct, sustained eye contact. They turn, they track you, and they hold it, in a way that almost nothing else in the ocean does. A shark looks through you. A turtle ignores you. A false killer whale looks at you, and keeps looking, and you become extremely aware that something is forming an opinion.

It is exactly what you would expect from a large brained, cooperative, socially complex predator encountering something it has not seen before. It is not threatening. It is assessment. But it is not a comfortable thing to be on the receiving end of, and it is the single most common reason people find these animals unsettling.

They Share Their Food, Including With Us

False killer whales hunt large fish. Mahi mahi, tuna, big pelagic species that can outswim them, which they solve by hunting cooperatively and running the fish down as a team.

Then they do something strange. They pass the food around. Prey gets handed from animal to animal across the pod, which is rare enough. But they have also, repeatedly and in different parts of the world, offered fish to human divers and swimmers, and then waited to see what happens.

Think about what that requires. The animal has to understand that you are a separate agent, that you might want food, and that offering it is a way of finding out something about you. There are not many species that do this. It is one of the strongest arguments there is for taking dolphin cognition seriously.

Pods, Bonds and Why They Mass Strand

False killer whales live in tight, stable groups, often for decades, and the bonds are extraordinarily strong. Pods travel in loose subgroups spread over miles of ocean, staying in acoustic contact.

That loyalty has a dark side. If one animal gets into difficulty in shallow water, the rest will not leave it. Mass strandings of false killer whales are among the largest recorded of any cetacean, running into the hundreds. It is not stupidity. It is the same trait that makes them successful, working against them.

The Hawaiian Population Is Dying

The species as a whole is not endangered. One population very much is, and it is the one people are most likely to encounter.

The main Hawaiian Islands insular false killer whales are a genetically distinct, resident group that never leaves the islands. They were listed as Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act in 2012. In 2022 the count was 139 animals. The population has been declining at roughly 3 percent a year, and there are now fewer than 150 left.

The main cause is longline fishing gear. False killer whales are smart enough to take fish off the lines, which is exactly the behaviour that gets them hooked, entangled and killed. Their intelligence is the thing killing them.

What It Is Like to Be in the Water With Them

Fast, deep, blue water, and no warning. They arrive as shapes that resolve out of nothing, and they arrive together.

They are curious in a way that is entirely different from most marine mammals. Dolphins bow ride and play. Whales tolerate you. False killer whales come and inspect, deliberately, one after another, and each one looks. You get the strong impression of being discussed.

And then they go, all at once, and the blue is empty again.

If you want more on the animals that share this water, there is Baird’s beaked whales and spotted dolphins. Prints are in the shop, and a portion of every sale supports marine conservation.

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Frequently Asked Questions About False Killer Whales

What is a false killer whale?

A large oceanic dolphin, Pseudorca crassidens, and the third biggest member of the dolphin family after the orca and the pilot whale. Despite the name it is not a whale and it is not closely related to the killer whale. It is slender, dark, fast, extremely social, and found in warm and temperate seas worldwide.

Why is it called a false killer whale?

Because of a skull. In 1846 Richard Owen described the species from a fossil skull dug out of the Lincolnshire Fens in England, and the skull looked so much like an orca’s that he named it the false orca. He also assumed the animal was extinct. It was not. In 1861 a pod of living false killer whales washed ashore in Kiel Bay, and a fossil turned out to be a species that had been swimming around the whole time.

Is a false killer whale a whale or a dolphin?

A dolphin. It belongs to the family Delphinidae, the oceanic dolphins. So do orcas and pilot whales, which are also called whales and are also dolphins. The naming in this part of the animal kingdom is a mess and it has nothing to do with biology.

What is the difference between a false killer whale and an orca?

Almost everything except the skull. Orcas are much larger, up to 26 feet, and unmistakably black and white with a huge dorsal fin. False killer whales are slender, uniformly dark grey, top out around 20 feet, and have a small curved dorsal fin. Orcas live everywhere including polar seas. False killer whales are warm water animals. Nobody who has seen both would confuse them.

What is the difference between a false killer whale and a pilot whale?

The head and the fin. Pilot whales have a bulbous, rounded, almost square melon and a broad, low, forward set dorsal fin. False killer whales have a slender tapered head and a smaller, more sharply curved dorsal fin set near the middle of the back. False killer whales are also faster and considerably more animated.

How big are false killer whales?

Males reach about 18 to 20 feet and can exceed 2,000 pounds. Females are smaller, around 15 feet. That makes them the third largest dolphin, behind the orca and the pilot whale.

Are false killer whales dangerous?

No. There is no record of a false killer whale seriously harming a person in the wild. They are large, fast, powerful predators, and they are also curious and remarkably tolerant of divers. The bigger risk is to your composure. They will look directly at you and hold it.

Why do false killer whales stare?

They do, and people find it unnerving. False killer whales make direct, prolonged eye contact with divers and swimmers in a way most animals will not. It is the behaviour of a large brained, intensely social predator sizing up something unfamiliar. It reads as intelligent because it is.

Do false killer whales share their food?

Yes, and it is one of the most remarkable things about them. False killer whales routinely pass prey between pod members, and they have repeatedly been recorded offering fish to human divers and swimmers, then waiting to see what happens. Food sharing on that scale is very rare in the animal world.

What do false killer whales eat?

Large fish, mainly mahi mahi, tuna and other big pelagic species, plus squid. They also hunt other dolphins, and they have been recorded harassing much larger whales. They hunt cooperatively, which is how a 15 foot dolphin brings down a fish that can outrun it.

Are false killer whales endangered?

The species overall is not, but one population very much is. The main Hawaiian Islands insular population was listed as Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act in 2012. It numbered 139 animals in 2022 and it has been falling by roughly 3 percent a year. Fewer than 150 remain. The primary threat is longline fishing gear.

What is a wholphin?

A hybrid of a false killer whale and a bottlenose dolphin. The best known was Kekaimalu, born at Sea Life Park in Hawaii, and she was fertile, which is unusual for a hybrid. It only underlines how close false killer whales are to the animals we do call dolphins.

Why do false killer whales mass strand?

Because the social bonds are extraordinarily strong. False killer whales live in tight, stable pods for decades, and if one animal gets into trouble in shallow water the others will not abandon it. That loyalty is why mass strandings of this species can run into the hundreds.