Ready For Her Close-Up! False Killer Whale Grins For the Camera

A false killer whale was spotted smiling a research camera in Hawaii.

False killer whales get their name because they are often mistaken for the predators - but this one is showing there's nothing deadly about her.

The creatures are actually part of the dolphin family, and not whales at all.

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When a pod of false killer whales was spotted off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, researchers decided to get them on film.

As the matriarch of the pod swam next to the boat and near the camera, she appeared to flash a big toothy grin.

The false killer whales are known to be in tropical waters like those around Hawaii. 

Crew member Elizabeth Hartford told the Huffington Post: “Those smiles you see them make were a precursor to one of them trying to eat the camera.”

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False killer whales are an endangered species and fascinating enough, their fossils were discovered before the live animals were ever observed in the wild.

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