False killer whale

Its diet category is invertivore, its trophic level is carnivore, and its activity pattern is cathemeral. Gestation lasts 454.1 days (1.2 years), litters have up to 1 young, and the IUCN Red List classes the species as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.

Weight

1.36 tsrc for Weight

Length

up to 6 msrc for Length

Lifespan

33.5 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Invertivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

62.5 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

marinesrc for Habitat

Gestation

454 days – 478 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

0.985src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

9.56 years – 18.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

0.12src for Litters or clutches a year

Active

Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active

Lifestyle

Marinesrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The false killer whale is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderCetacea
5. familyDelphinidae
6. genusPseudorca
7. SpeciesPseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846)

Synonyms Globicephalus grayi, Orca crassidens, Orca destructor, Orca meridionalis, Phocaena crassidens, Pseudorca crassidens meridionalis, Pseudorca grayi, Pseudorca mediterranea, Pseudorca meridionalis, Pseudorca meridionalis

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

DD, Data Deficient

Orca

Orcinus orca

Delphinidae

LC, Least Concern

Common bottlenose dolphin

Tursiops truncatus

Delphinidae

LC, Least Concern

Common dolphin

Delphinus delphis

Delphinidae

LC, Least Concern

Risso's dolphin

Grampus griseus

Delphinidae

EN, Endangered

Irrawaddy dolphin

Orcaella brevirostris

Delphinidae

LC, Least Concern

Striped dolphin

Stenella coeruleoalba

Delphinidae

CompareFalse killer whale vs OrcaFalse killer whale vs Common bottlenose dolphinFalse killer whale vs Common dolphinFalse killer whale vs Risso's dolphin

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{false_killer_whale_2026,
  title = {False killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/false-killer-whale},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}