Facts about whales Whale & Dolphin Conservation USA
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The filter-feeding baleen whales belong to the Mysticeti group of whales. This group has fewer species today than odontocetes—there are only 14 living species of baleen whales, belonging to four families. The Balaenopteridae family (also known as the rorquals) has the largest number of species and include blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), the largest vertebrate that has ever existed. Blue whales can reach lengths of over 30 meters (98 feet) and weigh over 190 tons.
Baby Dolphins
Playful whales can use seaweed as a hat – or exfoliant. This “kelping” behaviour is more common than we realised - The Conversation Indonesia
Playful whales can use seaweed as a hat – or exfoliant. This “kelping” behaviour is more common than we realised.
Posted: Tue, 26 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Once a cetacean mother gives birth she feeds thick, nutrient-rich milk full of protein and fat to her young. Once a calf is born and nursing it will stay with its mother for six months to two years. This energy-demanding time means that whales often won’t have another calf for several years.
Whaling
To learn the age of living whales researchers have turned to some surprising parts of the animal—earwax and skin cells. Whales gain earwax fairly consistently, adding layers throughout their life like tree rings. This allows researchers to age a whale and simultaneously see what sort of pollutants they are exposed to throughout their lives. Cetaceans lead long lives, but because they are difficult to track and research, the specifics of their life spans are a bit muddled. Most are thought to live at least 20 years, and some species much longer.
Whales expel air—not water—from their blowholes
Instead, they play an important role in giving the whales a heightened sense of their environment. Baleen whales, a group of filter-feeding whales, have hair follicles, some of which are still visible in some species, even when they attain full size. The humpback whale, for instance, has hairs on the bumps on its head, known as tubercles. Each tubercle contains a single hair follicle, and getting close to a humpback whale may enable one to see them. Whale song is documented in baleen whales, such as humpbacks, fin whales, blue whales, and bowhead whales. How they produce these noises is a mystery because they do not have vocal chords.
Being able to regulate their oxygen levels is particularly important for deep-diving species. Once underwater, “they can then slow down their heart rate, and shunt the oxygenated blood to the areas that they need”—including their brain, heart, and muscles. Fossils of gigantic ancient whales called Basilosaurus were first mistaken for dinosaur fossils, but were later recognized as mammals.
Brain power
Sharks, walruses and polar bears sometimes consume smaller toothed whales. Although never observed, there is some evidence that sperm whales and giant squid engage in epic battles. It appears that the whales will eat the squid (their hard beaks are found in the whales’ stomachs) but from the giant sucker scars often found on the face and backs of sperm whales, it’s clear the squids fight back. Some dolphins and porpoises live closer to shore, making them easier to track. Two of the three recognized species of bottlenose dolphins—the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) and the Burrunan dolphin (Tursiops australis)—tend to spend most of their time in coastal near-shore habitats. However, the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus, familiar to most from the TV show “Flipper”), can be found as two separate populations that spend their time either offshore or close to the coast.
Why Is The Dead Sea So Salty?
In the 2002 movie Whale Rider, a young Maori girl follows the path originally set forth for her brother to become tribe leader, using her special connection with Southern right whales to prove that she is worthy. In 2013, the release of the documentary Blackfish, a depiction of orca treatment at Sea World, changed the public’s perception of whales in captivity. Many people became upset by the revelations of the documentary, and attendance at marine parks has since dropped.
Whales are the biggest living animals: Lifeform of the week - EarthSky
Whales are the biggest living animals: Lifeform of the week.
Posted: Sun, 18 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
The other group of whales are the toothed whales, which as the name suggests possess teeth rather than baleen plates. Whale calves in some species of toothed whales are born with hair along their snouts and lose it quickly after birth. Marine mammals come in all shapes and sizes, from surfboard-stealing sea otters to giant humpback whales making Fibonacci spirals. However while the former is famously cute and fluffy with thick fur, do whales have hair?
Most diverse songs
So we’re setting the record straight and busting the most common myths about these marine mammals. Whales, as fascinating and enormous creatures of the deep, often pique people’s curiosity. Among the various aspects that intrigue individuals, a common query pertains to whether these marine mammals have hair.
Whales belonging to the group known as Mysticeti (baleen whales) have two blowholes, while toothed whales (Odontoceti) have only one. Unlike humans who breathe automatically, whales have active control of when they breathe. Cetaceans have specific control over a muscle called the nasal plug that closes the passageway of the blowhole—it remains closed when they are diving and is opened when they reach the surface. Whales are mammals which means that, like humans and other land mammals, they have three inner ear bones and hair, they breathe air, and the females produce milk through mammary glands and suckle their young. Mammals typically have hair to maintain body heat, but because cetaceans have insulating fat in the form of blubber they are often born with minimal hair that is lost as they grow older.
They also share other characteristics with land mammals, but they have evolved numerous traits that allow for their full-time life in the water. Cerro Ballena is a unique paleontological site located in the Atacama Region of Chile, north of the town of Caldera, along the Pan-American Highway. During road construction that started in 2010, paleontologists discovered a rich fossil site containing dozens of whale skeletons, along with the remains of other extinct marine mammals and marine vertebrates. In 2011, paleontologists from Chile and the United States, including Smithsonian’s Nick Pyenson, conducted rapid documentation and digitization of the site, before road construction was completed in early 2012. At the site the team documented the remains of ten different kinds of marine vertebrates, including billfishes, seals, aquatic sloths, and several different species of whales. The skeletons of over 40 individual large baleen whales dominated the site and included an extinct sperm whale and an extinct walrus-like whale (Odobenocetops), both of which were previously only known from Peru.
Vibrissae in humpback whales can detect movements in the water, such as the path of nearby fish or the current of the water. These hair follicles also aid in reducing drag on the whales’ flippers during movement. In essence, the hair follicles on whales adapt to their aquatic lifestyle and help them survive in their respective environments. While most species shed this hair as they mature, certain species retain their hair throughout their entire lives. While whales are known to have hair, some other marine mammals also possess this characteristic. Among the many water-dwelling creatures that have hair, three notable examples are harp seals, sea otters, and northern fur seals.
Today, the live dolphin trade is illegal in the United States, Mexico, and Europe, however, live dolphins are still captured in other countries to minimize inbreeding among the dolphins already in captivity. The nostrils were believed to have been moved to the top of the head to assist with living in the ocean. Bones with digit like structures can also be found in the whales flippers which appear to have been legs or arms that were once used for walking, fighting or gathering food. This can be seen by observing the curvature of a whales spine which appears to resemble that of a species designed for walking and/or running. The existence of hair may also be a sign of their evolutionary past when their ancestors walked on land.
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