Dead sperm whales are seen washed up on a beach on Texel Island, The Netherlands, January 13, 2016. The five sperm whales that beached on the Dutch lsland of Texel on Tuesday have died overnight, Dutch media reported. It is extremely unusual for so many whales to be in Dutch waters, a spokesman for the Ecomare marine centre told local paper Noordhollands Dagblad. Efforts to get the whales back into open water on Tuesday evening failed and rescuers finally withdrew from the beach at around midnight. The area of beach where the whales are has been closed to the public, to minimise the distress to the animals. (Photo by Cris Toala Olivares/Reuters)

Split-view of a killer whale at sunrise off the coast of Northern Norway. At least half of the world’s killer whale populations are doomed to extinction due to pollution of the oceans, a new study says. (Photo by Audun Rikardsen/Science)

“Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus Globicephala. There are two extant species, the long-finned pilot whale (G. melas) and the short-finned pilot whale (G. macrorhynchus). The two are not readily distinguished at sea and analysis of the skulls is the best way to tell the difference between the two species. Between the two species, pilot whales range in waters nearly worldwide with long-finned pilot whales living in cooler waters and short-finned pilot whales living in warmer waters. Pilot whales are among the largest of the oceanic dolphins, exceeded in size only by the killer whale. They and other large members of the dolphin family are also known as blackfish”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Pilot whales swim in Loch Carron on May 20, 2011 in South Uist, Scotland. A major operation is underway to prevent up to 100 pilot whales from stranding on the rocky shoreline of Loch Carron on South Uist in the Western Isles. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

English television personality, Love Island's Faye Winter is seen painted as a Killer Whale as part of a PETA protest photocall for marine animals in London's Piccadilly Circus on November 18, 2022. (Photo by The Mega Agency)

“Secrets of the Whales”. Skerry’s photographs celebrate the lives and culture of whales, illuminating recent research and their diverse behaviours. His latest work focuses on four key species: sperm whales, humpbacks, orca and beluga whales. Humpback whales bubble-net feeding off the coast of Alaska. They work cooperatively to feed on herring by blowing a perfect ring of bubbles underwater to form a net encircling the fish. The whales then swim up through the centre of the bubble net with their mouths open. (Photo by Brian Skerry/National Geographic Photo/Visa pour l'Image)

A Civil Protection employee dressed as death participates in the campaign “Beware of Monoxide, the Silent Killer”, which seeks to prevent deaths from poisoning with carbon monoxide through the use of heaters to mitigate low temperatures, on an avenue in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on February 2, 2022. (Photo by Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

Wing maker Marian Hose (L), also known as “Killer”, and Model Martha Hunt take part in a fitting ahead of the Victoria's Secret fashion show in New York, U.S., October 30, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Coombs/Reuters)

The Sea Life Trust team move Beluga Whale Little Gray from a tugboat during transfer to the bayside care pool where they will be acclimatised to the natural environment of their new home at the open water sanctuary in Klettsvik Bay in Iceland on August 7, 2020. The two Beluga whales, named Little Grey and Little White, are being moved to the world's first open-water whale sanctuary after travelling from an aquarium in China 6,000 miles away in June 2019. (Photo by Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images)