You're looking at a False Killer Whale. Sherry takes umbrage with this name. What a bummer for the whale! I can only imagine that it was waiting with baited breath (stinking of squid and fish) to find out what common name man had given it, and was thoroughly disappointed when it found out. Even its Latin name, Pseudoorca crassidens, hints at fakery. I doubt the whale set out with any intentions of being a fake anything when first it entered the biosphere.
Crassidens means 'stout tooth' in Latin. Why not call it the Stout Tooth Whale? Or, I like Sherry's suggestion: Grim Reaper Whale (to continue with the 'killer' theme).
Photo source: Stefan Thiesen Buntrabe
The next time you're in tropical, subtropical, or warm waters and you encounter one of these, please apologize on behalf of mankind. We really should have given them a better name.
I pledge from now on to only refer to killer whales as "False Grim Reaper Whales".
ReplyDeleteI love it! I'll do the same.
ReplyDeleteWe saw the Navy working with a couple of these whales in 2003 when we were vacationing in San Diego. No one quite knew what they were doing (we watched them from the Cabrillo Monument, at the mouth of Mission Bay), but the Park Rangers there knew that they were false killer whales and showed us pictures. Keen!
ReplyDeleteWhere can we send a petition protesting the poor naming choice for this whale? Is there a special secret scientist enclave somewhere that we could picket??? It is all very wrong. They will always be Grim Reaper Whales to me. : (
ReplyDeleteSherry at SofN : )