Fusion of the cervical spine characterizes the short finned pilot whale. By studying numerous fetal specimens as well as skeletally immature and mature postnatal specimens the pattern of progressive osseous fusion has been ascertained. C₁ and C₂ initially develop as a composite central cartilaginous unit, although laterally there may be some separation through and inter-zone. However, C₃ through C₇ form individual cartilaginous centra which are divided from each other by thin, well-demarcated inter-zones but without the formation of intervertebral discs (these are quite obvious at the same stage of development in the thoracic, lumbar and caudal regions). The first primary ossification center appears in C₂. The next occurs in C₇. Subsequent centers then appear in sequence in C₂ through C₆ with the ossification progressing in a craniocaudal fashion. These centra ossification centers then progressively coalesce in the midline in a craniocaudal sequence. The details of this process will be discussed.