There are several different types of whales. They were valued for their meat and oil and hunting decimated a lot of the population. When whales became endangered most countries banned any whaling. There are many organizations that are trying to help the mammal’s survival and stop all types of hunting.
There are toothed and baleen species of whales. Baleen species are the larger species and toothed varieties are smaller. Baleen is like a type of sieve in the mouth and the animal uses it to filter out plankton form the sea water for food. Toothed varieties have teeth and hunt fish and squid for food. They also use echolocation in order to move about.
You may not know that whales are mammals as they are warm blooded, feed their young milk and breathe air. They can live in the cold water because of the layer of blubber that they have underneath their skin. Blubber is used as an energy source when food is scarce and also acts as insulation. They breathe using a blow hole though baleen varieties have two blowholes. They also have a four chambered heart.
Being mammals they also have spines as well as a four chamber heart. They tend to breathe through their blowholes and are on the top of the head. Baleen varieties will have two blowholes and toothed species only have one.
Another interesting fact is that they are conscious breathers as they chose when and where they breathe. Also only sections of their brain sleep at a time so that the animal doesn’t drown.
Many of the larger whales are extinct and smaller species are being threatened as they are being killed by the nets used by fisheries. Populations are slowly recovering after all of the hunting that occurred in the 20th century.
Whales communication has long intrigued Astrid Kelly while Watching the whale along the East Coast of America.
categories: Wildlife,Science,Biology,Flora and Fauna,Animalia,Zoology,Chordata,Mammalia,Cetacea,Endangered Animals,Animal Behavior