Grampus griseus
Risso's dolphin is the only species of the genus Grampus in the family Delphinidae (dolphins). Some of the most closely related species to these dolphins include: pilot whales, pygmy killer whales, melon-headed whales, and false killer whales. These dolphins grow to be about 10 ft in length and can be identified by heavy scarring that appears white. They are located worldwide in cold to temperate waters, but most typically found along continental shelves due to their eating habits. Risso's dolphins have a diet that contains primarily cephalopods. They are able to search for prey at various depths due to their ability to reach depths of almost 600 m (2,000 ft). Individuals typically travel in pods ranging from 10 to 50 dolphins, with which they form tight social bonds.

AliceMartinelli8 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.
On record
Recorded, not inferred- Also called
- Risso's dolphinPBDB
- Sits inside
- GrampusPBDB
- Diet
- piscivore, carnivorePBDB, for Delphinidae
- Life habit
- aquatic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Cetacea
- Motility
- actively mobilePBDB, for Cetacea
- Environment
- marine,freshwaterPBDB, for Odontoceti
Time the record covers
At least 3.5 million years on record.
The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.
17 occurrences of Grampus griseus on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.
When
17 occurrencesThese are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.
Found in the same rock
40 taxa- Delphinus delphis3 sites
- Balaenoptera physalus2 sites
- Globicephala macrorhynchus2 sites
- Kogia2 sites
- Physeter macrocephalus2 sites
- Tursiops truncatus2 sites
- Alectoris graeca1 site
- Alopias superciliosus1 site
- Balaenoptera musculus1 site
- Berardius bairdii1 site
- Bos primigenius1 site
- Caretta caretta1 site
- Cervus elaphus1 site
- Cetacea1 site
- Delphinidae1 site
- Delphinus1 site
- Epinephelus1 site
- Equus1 site
- Felis1 site
- Globicephala1 site
- Hyperoodon1 site
- Isurus oxyrinchus1 site
- Isurus paucus1 site
- Kogia prisca1 site
The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Grampus griseus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.
This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.
Entered from
7 references- Preliminary estimates of the abundance of cetaceans along the U.S. west coast: 1991-200111
- Climate-driven environmental changes around 8,200 years ago favoured increases in cetacean strandings and Mediterranean hunter-gatherers exploited them1
- Cetacans of Isla de Guadalupe, Baja California, Mexcico1
- A list of fossil cetaceans in Japan1
- Dents de requins et bulles tympaniques de cetaces: Noyaux de nodules polymetalliques recoltes dans L'Ocean Indien1
- Fossil atlases of dolphins from the Mawaki Site, Noto Peninsula1
- Catalog of Living Whales1
Each of the 17 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.
Media and terms
Media content2
Picture of Grampus griseus
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- AliceMartinelli8
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
3D model
- Source
- Sketchfab
- Licence
- CC Attribution-NonCommercial
- Commercial use
- the licence does not allow it
Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.
The description on this site
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.
Keep going
What may have been alongside itGrampus through timeThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cuvier 1812)