Survival, fecundity and reproductive tissue data from false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens)

These data come from specimens from false killer whales from combined strandings (South Africa, 1981) and harvest (Japan 1979-80). The South African material was collected from 65 false killer whales that stranded en masse on the west coast of the Western Cape Province. Scientists reached the site two days after the stranding event was reported, so the material was not fresh and fixation of tissue samples was suboptimal. Data are available from 41 (including 32 mature) females. The Japanese material (96 females, 57 mature) originated from 6 schools harvested during shore-drive fisheries operations at Iki Island. In each case, as many false killer whales as possible were randomly examined. Data presented here come from 91 females if which 89 were mature. The Japanese and South African data were combined to estimate survival, but fecundity information is available for each separately. These data are associated with the following publication: Theoni Photopoulou, Ines M. Ferreira, Peter B. Best, Toshio Kasuya and Helene Marsh. 2017. Evidence for a postreproductive phase in female false killer whales Pseudorca crassidens. Frontiers in Zoology. 14:30. DOI 10.1186/s12983-017-0208-y