Facts About Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises. The term . While most whales spend their lives offshore in the ocean's pelagic zone, some inhabit coastal areas and even spend part of their lives in fresh water. Their body temperature is about the same as ours, even though they often live in cold water. Whales also breathe air, give birth to live young and nurse their young. These characteristics are common to all mammals, including humans. The rest have teeth, but they're not teeth like we have - they are cone- shaped or spade- shaped teeth and they are used to catch prey, rather than for chewing. Since they are included in the group of toothed whales, dolphins and porpoises. Both feed on relatively tiny animals such as krill (euphausiids) and small schooling fish. While one half of the brain stays awake to make sure the whale breathes and alerts the whale to any danger in its environment, the other half of the brain sleeps.
KILLER WHALES (Orcinus orca) - Adaptations for an Aquatic Environment.Discover animal. Diet & Eating Habits; Reproduction. The sense of smell isn't well- developed in whales, and there is debate about their sense of taste. But in the underwater world where visibility is highly variable and sound travels far, good hearing is a necessity. Toothed whales use echolocation to find their food, which involves emitting sounds that bounce off whatever is in front of them, and interpreting those sounds to determine the object's distance, size, shape, and texture. Baleen whales probably don't use echolocation, but use sound to communicate over long distances and may also use sound to develop a sonic . These include looking at ear plugs in baleen whales, which form growth layers (kind of like the rings in a tree), or the growth layers in the teeth of toothed whales. There is a newer technique that involves studying aspartic acid in the whale's eye, and is also related to growth layers formed in a whale's eye lens. What is the average weight of a killer whale? Orcas are called killer whales due to the fact that they are the top predator in the ocean. The longest- living whale species is thought to be the bowhead whale, which may live to over 2. Other than that, there's not much known about the reproduction of many whale species. Despite all our studies of whales, reproduction in some species has never been observed. After mating, the female is generally pregnant for about a year, after which she gives birth to one calf. There have been records of females with more than one fetus, but usually only one is born. Females nurse their calves - a baby blue whale may drink over 1. Plus, they need to protect their calves from predators. So having only one calf allows the mother to focus all her energy on keeping that calf safe. The International Whaling Commission, which regulates whaling, allows whaling for aboriginal subsistence purposes, or scientific research. Whaling occurs in some areas, but whales are threatened even more by ship strikes, entanglements in fishing gear, fisheries bycatch, and pollution. Across the world, many countries have found that whales are more valuable for watching than hunting. In some areas, you can even watch whales from land. This includes Hawaii, where humpback whales can be seen during the winter breeding season, or California, where gray whales can be seen as they pass along the coast during their spring and fall migrations. Watching whales can be an exhilarating adventure, and a chance to see some of the world's largest (and sometimes most endangered) species.
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