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Where they live : In ocean around the world
What they eat up : A huge range of animals , from tiny plankton to gargantuan squid
Many species of whales live in groups called pods. They can communicate with each other through a complex system of clicks, whistles, and other sounds.
How large they are : Between 7 and 100 base ( 2 to 30 meters )
heavyweight are a group of mammals that live in oceans . They include some of the largest animals on Earth . The blue whale is the biggest animal that has ever existed . Whales can be find in every ocean , with many species migrate tenacious distances between their eating and mating grounds , where they gain to have babies .
There are over 90 whale coinage . Some of the most famed giant specie are humpback whales , sperm whales , drab whales and narwal . Despite their name , slayer whale — or orcas — are not whales . Instead , they are part of the intimately related dolphin family unit .
Many species of whales live in groups called pods. They can communicate with each other through a complex system of clicks, whistles, and other sounds.
Many whale coinage were hunted for their oil and other consistence section during the 1800s and 1900s , and they almost went extinct . Even though this practice session has been banned in most nation , some whale species still have very humble populations and are deal vulnerable , endangered or critically endangered .
5 fast facts about whales
Everything you need to know about whales
Are whales mammals?
Whales are mammalian — the same overall group that include humans , dogs , cats , monkeys , pigs and others . Unlike Pisces , whales have lungs , not gill . That have in mind they must return to the sea ’s surface to breathe .
Like other mammals , whales are warm - blooded , which means their soundbox temperature stays the same , even in cold-blooded water . They have a boneheaded layer of fatty tissue under their hide . This fat , called blubber , keep the passion in and the insensate out . hulk ' declamatory size also helps them stay warm , since bigger creature lose heat more slowly than smaller ones do .
Whales , like most mammals , give birthing to live babies . Whales give nativity to one calfskin at a prison term . A whale calf stay in its female parent ’s womb forbetween 10 and 16 calendar month , depending on the species . It must swim to the airfoil instantly for its first breath . The whale sura run on its female parent ’s Milk River for betweensix months and two years . Whale milk is very fatty , fat and slurred — about as stocky astoothpaste .
(Image credit: Jacky Lee via Getty Images)
What do whales eat?
Whales eat a variety of prey . The size of their meals bet on if they have teeth . Some whales , like sperm hulk and beak whales , are sort out as " notched whales " because they have tooth .
Baleen giant , on the other hired hand , have gravid , comb - comparable " baleen plates " that are made from the same material as our fingernails . These whales employ their baleen plates to filter tiny animals — such as plankton , krill and small Pisces — out of the water . Examples of baleen whales include blue whales , Little Phoebe whale and humpback whales .
jagged whales unremarkably eat orotund prey , which can includefish , squid , octopus , seabird , seals , penguins , shark , and even other whales and mahimahi . spermatozoon whales dive up to 3,000 foot ( 900 m ) below the ocean ’s open to trace for jumbo calamary and other inscrutable - sea prey . Some toothed whales use only their teeth to capture and grab prey and immerse it whole , while others chew their food .
(Image credit: by wildestanimal via Getty Images)
Some whales may hunt by opening their mouths panoptic and pushing out a lot of water through their baleen to trap krill . humpback whale whales sometimes work together to track down . Theyuse a techniquecalled bubble gauze , in which several whales be adrift bubbles to trap fish in a spiral and then accept them .
What whale species is the biggest?
Theblue whaleis the largest hulk coinage . It is the big animal live today and the largest animal that has ever go . dark whales can grow to be 110 foot ( 33.5 m ) long — about as long as two semitrailers — and weigh as much as 165 tons ( 150 metric stacks ) when fully grow , harmonise to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . A blue giant ’s heart is as big as a Volkswagen Beetle andweighs up to 400 pounds(180 kg ) .
The small heavyweight metal money is the dwarf sperm hulk , which is about 7 to 9 feet ( 2 to 2.7 m ) foresightful and weigh between 400 and 600 pounds ( 181 to 270 kg ) .
dreary whales can eat as much as 6 tons ( 5.4 metric tons ) — about the same free weight as an African elephant — of krill every day .
(Image credit: PetziProductions via Getty Images)
dispirited whales are monumental even at nascence . When they are born , they measure about 25 feet ( 7.6 metre ) long . These gigantic baby drink over 100 gallons ( 379 liters ) of their female parent ’s Milk River every 24 hours and grow by 200 pounds ( 91 kilogram ) each day .
low heavyweight are listed as anendangered specie , with onlybetween 10,000 and 25,000left in the populace . This is mostly because they were hard hunt during the late 1800s and other 1900s . Before then , there were anestimated 300,000 risque whalesworldwide .
Do whales have teeth?
There are many more toothed whale coinage than baleen heavyweight species — 77 species of toothed whale(including dolphins and porpoises ) , compared with only 15 baleen whale species . Well - know metal money of toothed whale include sperm giant , gnome and Pigmy sperm whales , belugas and narwhals .
Some heavyweight have hundreds of teeth . Others , like the narwhal , have only one or two . In fact , the narwhal ’s renowned , unicorn - like ivory is actually a toothgrowing through its upper back talk .
Toothed whale hunt using a method called echolocation . They send out high - hawk pawl from their melon , a butterball harmonium in their forehead . By listening for the sound reflection of these clicks , the whales build up a pic of their surroundings in . Echolocation can also allow a whale to find out how arduous or balmy an physical object is and how tight it ’s moving .
(Image credit: Julian Gunther via Getty Images)
sperm cell whales can spend over an hr diving K of metrical foot beneath the surface to hunt , using echolocation to trail down giant calamari , octopusesand other preyin the pitch - black piddle . Occasionally , these whales have been found insure instrange , circular scarsthat effect from deep - sea battles with enormous calamary .
Whale pictures
Beluga heavyweight change the shape of their melon vine heads to convey .
Humpback whales uprise up to 60 feet ( 18.3 MiB ) long and are found across Earth ’s ocean .
Pilot whales are part of the toothed whale chemical group . They live in pod and are extremely social animals .
(Image credit: by wildestanimal via Getty Images)
Southern ripe whales are one of three species of right heavyweight . The North Atlantic right whale and North Pacific right heavyweight are among the most endangered whale species in the world .
Fin whales became the aim of whaling ship in the mid twentieth century , with hunters killing around 725,000 in the Southern Hemisphere , grant to the NOAA .
dingy whale are believed to be the largest animals to have ever existed .
(Image credit: Gerard Soury via Getty Images)
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