Talk:False killer whale/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Enwebb (talk · contribs) 20:28, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

I'm willing to look this one over! It looks well done—I'm mostly bringing up minor grammar issues. Enwebb (talk) 20:28, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

• This article meets the good article criteria. Well done! Enwebb (talk) 03:19, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

Copyediting

• "It is a deep-diving dolphin, maximum depth recorded as 927.5 m (3,043 ft), and it has a maximum speed of around 29 km/h (18 mph)." should probably be "It is a deep-diving dolphin with a maximum depth recorded as 927.5 m (3,043 ft), and it has a maximum speed of around 29 km/h (18 mph).
• "The false killer whale has a tendency to mass strand, given its high social nature" should be highly social because you're describing an adjective.
• "Zoologist John Edward Gray, in 1846, assigned the false killer whale..." I think it makes more sense to start with the introductory clause "In 1846, ..."
• "Based on these and a pod that beached itself three months later in November, the species was moved in 1862 by zoologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt to the newly erected genus Pseudorca, established as being neither a porpoise nor a killer whale." this could be ordered better so that the year and person don't break up the action of the sentence and you use active voice. I suggest "...later in November, zoologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt moved the species to the newly erected genus Pseudorca in 1762, establishing it as neither a porpoise nor a killer whale."

No, he didn't move it in November, the pod washed up in November, that's why the sentence's separated that way   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  21:02, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

The November part is irrelevant, I was just using that to lead into the clause in question. You're using passive voice saying the species was moved. Active voice would be x moved the species. So instead of "Based on these and a pod that beached itself three months later in November, the species was moved in 1862 by zoologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt to the newly erected genus Pseudorca, established as being neither a porpoise nor a killer whale" I think it should be "Based on these and a pod that beached itself three months later in November, zoologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt moved the species to the newly erected genus Pseudorca in 1862, which established it as neither a porpoise nor a killer whale." Does that make sense?

Darn I like the passive voice, done   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  22:24, 11 August 2018 (UTC)

• Some phrasing could be tightened up to remove extra words
  • "A pod was observed near Chile to have a 15 km/h (9.3 mph) cruising speed" --> "A pod near Chile had a 15 km/h (9.3 mph) cruising speed"
  • "In Japan, one individual was documented to have dove 600 m (2,000 ft)..." --> "In Japan, one individual had a documented dive of 600 m (2,000 ft)..."
  • "It is thought their maximum dive time is 18.5 minutes" --> "Its maximum dive time is likely 18.5 minutes"
  • "The false killer whale is known to be host to several parasites" --> "The false killer whale is a known host to several parasites"
• Make sure you consistently refer to the species as singular or plural (you switch to some plural usage in the Population and distribution and human interaction sections)
• "In the Eastern Pacific, the false killer whale has been known to target smaller dolphins during tuna purse-seine fishing operations, and there are cases of attacks on sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), and one instance against a calf of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)." this could be two sentences.
• "Individuals were, until 1980, mainly captured off California and Hawaii, and then the switch was made to Japan and Taiwan." this sentence is unclear to me. Do you mean that individuals were transported to Japan and Taiwan after they were captured? Or Japan and Taiwan became more popular places to catch individuals for captivity?
• "However, they also take fish off of hooks, which sometimes leads to entanglement–which itself can cause drowning, can cut off circulation to an appendage, or impede the animal's ability to hunt–or they may swallow the hook–which can puncture the digestive tract or can become a blockage." This is a very long & complex sentence. It could be two or even three sentences.
• "...and the remoteness of the area resulted were detrimental to rescue efforts, causing the deaths of 81 whales" --> "...and the remoteness of the area was detrimental to rescue efforts, causing the deaths of 81 whales."
• I think it's technically incorrect to start a sentence with "Though," as it's a coordinating conjunction. In the 3 instances where you use it that way, you can either remove it or replace it with "however."

Okay all done   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  21:02, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

Content

• I think the sentence about Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala suggesting a subspecies could be rephrased. It currently almost sounds like WP:OR (I looked at the source and know that it isn't, though). Instead of "though there was not sufficient justification," you could say "though later publications determined this was proposed with insufficient justification."

I don't see the difference, it just makes the sentence longer   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  21:02, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

• "Also, different populations around the world have different vocalizations, similar to other dolphins" I'm unsure if Taxonomy is the best place for this information. Perhaps it could move to description?

Moved to Behavior   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  21:02, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

• The description section seems pretty lean, especially considering you are covering physical description and life cycle/reproduction. Ideas for expanding this section include more morphology (cranial and dental characters could work) or internal systems. You could also describe their senses or brain characteristics. To expand the reproduction paragraph, you could detail more about pregnancy/parturition, how long calves nurse, how long they stay with their mothers, post-natal dispersal...

The morphology thing would just be a really big repeat of the Biology section at toothed whale, it's just a bit too broad, but I added a sentence about teeth and another on echolocation   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  22:24, 11 August 2018 (UTC)

• • Also it seems that the reproductive information is split between the description and behavior section. Perhaps you should have a reproduction section where you can detail information on sexual behaviors, reproduction, and life history
• "Diving behavior is not well recorded, but one tagged individual near Japan dove for 12 minutes to a depth of 230 m (750 ft)" clarify what you mean by tagged. I'm assuming a satellite tag?

It's unnecessary, I deleted the "tagged"   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  21:02, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

• "Members stay with the pod long-term..." long-term is vague. Can you provide an example of how long individuals stay with a given pod?

yep   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  21:02, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

• In the conservation section you could explain why the species is listed as data deficient by the IUCN

added   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  21:02, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

• "Killer whales are known to prey on the false killer whale, and probably also large sharks, though there are no documented instances" sounds like you're saying killer whales eat both false killer whales and large sharks. You can rephrase this to make your meaning clearer.

done   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  04:34, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

• It's unclear what you mean when you say they are unpopular aquarium specimens due to "aggression." Are there documented attacks on humans? That would help illustrate your point clearer (though in looking for such information I did find a 1966 publication where they write about how non-aggressive they are [1])

I find this source very interesting, and the source I got that from stopped at "false killer whale aggression towards humans and other marine mammals in captivity," so I think I'll just remove it. Also I can't believe the other sources didn't mention its homosexual relations, this seems very important   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  04:34, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

• I think you should expand the idea that they help other species in childbirth. It's intriguing and not immediately apparent to the reader how that would work.

I've added all that I can now   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  04:34, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

• "The false killer whale is more susceptible to organochloride buildup than other dolphins, being higher up on the food chain, and some stranded individuals around the world showed higher levels than other dolphins." Again, I find this vague. You start off by saying that it is more susceptible to OC buildup. However, your supporting information is only that some individuals showed higher levels than other dolphins. Necessarily, that means that some have lower levels than other dolphins. I don't know what is in the literature, but you could try giving a more specific fact such as "The false killer whale is more susceptible to organochloride buildup than other dolphins, being higher up on the food chain; stranded individuals have a organochlorine concentration of X μg/kg, which is XX% higher than x species." A statistic would do a much better job of supporting the notion that they have higher OC levels.

I deleted "some"   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  04:34, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

I still think it would be improved by adding more detailed information. This paper [2] (which you haven't cited yet) talks about heavy metal and OC buildup in marine mammals in Australia and P. crassidens had very high mercury concentrations relative to the other species. This article here [3], particularly pages 1934-1935, have a good overview of persistent organic pollutant levels in live false killer whales. By removing "some" you went from a vague-ish statement to an absolute one. Now it sounds as if all stranded individuals have higher OC levels than all other dolphin species.

Basically what's going on here is that the higher an animal is on the food chain, the higher its susceptibility to organochloride buildup, and false killer whales are higher up on the food chain than most other dolphins. That's all. What I could do here is say, "stranded individuals around the world have been known to show higher levels," and add an explainer like, "Animals higher up on the food chain are more susceptible to organochloride buildup"   User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk  19:40, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Copyvio check

• content passes copyvio check; only hit is a mirror site
• Images are used in accordance with the proper licenses

• Drive-by comment - I think this image[4] of the head shows some anatomy better than the many similar images now used where only half the animal is shown. FunkMonk (talk) 20:15, 12 August 2018 (UTC)