Whales are aquatic mammals that live their entire lives in water and along with the seacow are the only other mammals to do so. Unlike fish, who breathe using their gills, whales suck in air through blowholes that push air down into their lungs. They are in fact very similar in most ways to mammals that live on land. Lungs, hair, warm blood, mammary glands and four-chambered hearts. Whales have all of these mammal traits. Strangely, the closest land animal to the whale is the hippopotamus, of which it is a very distant relation.
Being the biggest animals on the earth, whales of course are mostly thought of as gigantic creatures, but there are quite small varieties too. The dwarf sperm whale is the smallest whale, measuring around 2.5 metres in length, while the blue whale is the largest, sometimes measuring a monstrous 30 metres in length.
Whales are placed in the cetacean group of mammals alongside dolphins and porpoises. There are more than 75 types of cetacean in all. They are further placed into two different groups, toothed whales and baleen whales. Most are of the toothed variety, sea predators that use their teeth to chomp down on fish and squid. Baleen whales use filters to sieve their food from the sea. These whales are less common but much larger than their toothed counterparts. Whales have eyes on the sides of their heads which means they can’t see straight ahead of themselves properly but their side view is second to none.
The fastest species are killer whales (usually called ‘Orcas’), which can get up to speeds of around 50kph. You wouldn’t want to race one of those for sure! Orcas are actually dolphins even though they go under the title of killer whale. In contrast to fish, who move their tails left to right in the water, whales move their tales up and down. Even though whales can get up to some incredible speeds, they have not been always able to outrun the many whaling ships that have seen several species of whale on the brink of extinction. Whales are hunted for their meat, oil and ambergris (a perfume ingredient) among other things. Countries like Norway, Iceland and Japan still allow whale-hunting, while most countries of the world have banned it.
Whales are usually portrayed as quite violent creatures that can attack ships and boats but this is mostly not the case. Although they are not to be messed with, the whale will not attack unless it or its young are threatened. Moby Dick, the whale in Herman Melville’s classic novel of the same name, is perhaps the most famous whale in history. Much of people’s views of whales have probably come from Melville’s book, which features a revengeful, ferocious whale that attacks ships at a whim and the story of Jonah trapped inside the body of a whale in the bible.
Being the biggest animals on the earth, whales of course are mostly thought of as gigantic creatures, but there are quite small varieties too. The dwarf sperm whale is the smallest whale, measuring around 2.5 metres in length, while the blue whale is the largest, sometimes measuring a monstrous 30 metres in length.
Whales are placed in the cetacean group of mammals alongside dolphins and porpoises. There are more than 75 types of cetacean in all. They are further placed into two different groups, toothed whales and baleen whales. Most are of the toothed variety, sea predators that use their teeth to chomp down on fish and squid. Baleen whales use filters to sieve their food from the sea. These whales are less common but much larger than their toothed counterparts. Whales have eyes on the sides of their heads which means they can’t see straight ahead of themselves properly but their side view is second to none.
The fastest species are killer whales (usually called ‘Orcas’), which can get up to speeds of around 50kph. You wouldn’t want to race one of those for sure! Orcas are actually dolphins even though they go under the title of killer whale. In contrast to fish, who move their tails left to right in the water, whales move their tales up and down. Even though whales can get up to some incredible speeds, they have not been always able to outrun the many whaling ships that have seen several species of whale on the brink of extinction. Whales are hunted for their meat, oil and ambergris (a perfume ingredient) among other things. Countries like Norway, Iceland and Japan still allow whale-hunting, while most countries of the world have banned it.
Whales are usually portrayed as quite violent creatures that can attack ships and boats but this is mostly not the case. Although they are not to be messed with, the whale will not attack unless it or its young are threatened. Moby Dick, the whale in Herman Melville’s classic novel of the same name, is perhaps the most famous whale in history. Much of people’s views of whales have probably come from Melville’s book, which features a revengeful, ferocious whale that attacks ships at a whim and the story of Jonah trapped inside the body of a whale in the bible.
