KNOWING
WHALE
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LIVING
IN THE OCEAN
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Whales are large, magnificent, intelligent,
aquatic mammals. They breathe air through blowhole(s) into lungs
(unlike fish who breathe using gills). Whales have sleek, streamlined
bodies that move easily through the water. They are the only mammals,
other than
(seacows), that live their entire lives in the water, and the only
mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans. |
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Whales breathe air. They are NOT fish. They are mammals
that spend their entire lives in the water.
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Like all mammals:
- Whales breathe air into lungs
- Whales have hair (although they have a lot less than land
mammals,
- and have almost none as adults),
- Whales are warm-blooded (they maintain a high body temperature),
- Whales have mammary glands with which they nourish their young,
- Whales have a four-chambered heart.
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Cetaceans are the group of mammals that includes the whales,
dolphins, and porpoises.
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The biggest whale is the blue
whale, which grows to be about 94 feet (29 m) long - the height
of a 9-story building. These enormous animals eat about 4 tons of
tiny krill each day, obtained
by filter feeding through baleen. Adult blue whales have no predators
except man.
The smallest whale is the dwarf sperm whale which
as an adult is only 8.5 feet (2.6 m) long. |
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The blue whale is the largest
animal that has ever existed on Earth. It is larger than
any of the dinosaurs were. They are also the loudest animal
on Earth.
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TWO
TYPES OF CETACEAN
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Cetaceans include the whales, dolphins and
porpoises. There are over 75 species of Cetaceans. Whales belong
to the order Cetacea (from the Greek word "ketos" which
means whale), which is divided into the following groups: |
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Toothed whales (Odontoceti)
- predators that use their peg-like teeth to catch fish, squid,
and marine mammals, swallowing them whole. They have one blowhole
(nostril) and use echolocation
to hunt. There are about 66 species of toothed whales.
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Baleen whales (Mysticeti)
- predators that sieve tiny crustaceans, small fish, and
other tiny organisms from the water with baleen. Baleen
is a comb-like structure that filters the baleen whales'
food from the water. Baleen whales are larger than the toothed
whales and have 2 blowholes (nostrils).
There are 10 species of baleen whales.
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SWIMMING
AND OTHER WATER ACTIVITIES
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Whales have a streamlined shape and almost no hair as adults
(it would cause drag while swimming). Killer whales and Shortfin
Pilot whales are the fastest, swimming up to 30 miles per hour
(48 kph).
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Whales swim by moving their muscular tail (flukes) up
and down. Fish swim by moving their tails left
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Breaching: Many whales are very acrobatic, even breaching (jumping)
high out of the water and then slapping the water as they come
back down. Sometimes they twirl around while breaching. Breaching
may be purely for play or may be used to loosen skin parasites
or have some social meaning
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Spyhopping: This is another cetacean activity in which the whale
pokes its head out of the water and turns around, perhaps to take
a look around
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Lobtailing: Some whales stick their tail out of the water into
the air, swing it around, and then slap it on the water's surface;
this is called lobtailing. It makes a very loud sound. The meaning
or purpose of lobtailing is unknown, but may be done as a warning
to the rest of the pod of danger
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Logging: Logging is when a whale lies still at the surface of
the water, resting, with its tail hanging down. While floating
motionless, part of the head, the dorsal fin or parts of the back
are exposed at the surface.
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Copyright©
Inggrid Paendong |
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