The sperm whale is the size of four elephants.
A Southern Right whale calf can drink up to 200 litres of milk per day?
Whales are able to grow to such enormous sizes because their weight is supported by the water. Unlike land Mammals whose bones are hard and strong, the bones of whales are soft and porous, and are also used to help store food reserves in the form of oil.
Underwater, whales do not have good vision. They have very good hearing, and use a system known as Echo location which utilizes a series of sounds and echoes to help them find their way and their food.
Because whales travel in cold, icy waters, and can dive great depths, they need to keep warm. Under their skin is a very thick layer of Blubber. This acts as Thermal Insulation and also as a food storage.
A whale's penis is called a dork.
It has been calculated that a single breath from a mature blue whale can inflate up to 2,000 balloons.
A 42-foot sperm whale has about 7 tons of oil in it.
Most elephants weigh less than a blue whale's tongue.
Baby whales grow at an average rate of 10lbs per hour!
At 188 decibels, the whistle of the blue whale is the loudest sound produced by any animal
A blue whale's heart is the size of a Volkswagen Beetle!
A blue whale's aorta (the main blood vessel) is large enough for a human to crawl through.
Whales are mammals, so they feed milk to their babies and breathe air.
They like each other and live in large groups called "herds." A baby whale is called a "calf."
Whales do not have gills, so they cannot breathe under water. They must come up to the surface of the water to get air. The air is breathed in and out through their "blowhole," which is on their back.
When whales sleep, they stay at the top of the water, with their blowhole above the surface. Sometimes, a whale will swim up to the surface of the water and quickly blow air out of their blowhole, making a fountain of watery mist, called a "blow."
There are two different kinds of whales, the baleen and the toothed whale.
Baleen
- Baleen whales are also called "toothless" whales. Instead of teeth, they have plates made of baleen in their jaws. Baleen is a very hard and strong substance, much like the material that makes animals' horns. Baleen is also called "whalebone."
- The baleen plates grow from the whales' upper jawbones. They are from two to 12 feet long and they hang down in stringy pieces. Sea water passes through the baleen and the whales' food gets caught. A kind of plankton called krill is what the baleen whale eats. The biggest baleen whales eat as much as two tons of krill each day!
- There are many kinds of baleen whales, including blue, bowhead, Bryde's, fin, gray, humpback, minke, right and sei. The blue whale is the largest, often reaching 100 feet in length. They are the largest animals that have ever lived upon the earth. They are even larger than dinosaurs! Humpback whales are also big, weighing up to 45 tons.
- Baleen whales have two nostrils, or blowholes.
Toothed
- Toothed whales have teeth instead of baleen. They include the beluga or white, bottlenose, narwhal, pilot and sperm whales. Dolphins are toothed whales. The famous "killer whale," is really a large dolphin, and they can grow up to 30 feet in length.
- Toothed whales eat fish and plants. They have one nostril, or blowhole.
The adult male Strap-toothed whale has boar-like tusks on each side of his lower jaw that may become a foot long and wrap around the upper jaw? These tusks can restrict the whale from opening his mouth which is a problem since he has to suck up squid in order to survive.
The Blainville Beaked whale has a thick, lower jaw that looks like stair steps with a single tooth growing out of the middle on both sides?
Whales are able to control the flow of blood to the heart and brain so that they do not suffer from lack of oxygen on deep dives.
Whale fetuses have hands and fingers, which fuse together before birth.
The narwhal has a long horn which protrudes from the front of its head and it is actually an overgrown tooth. Sailors, many years ago thought it was related to the mythical unicorn!
Whales swim by moving their tails up and down and using their flippers, which also help them to turn. Some whales, such as the sei, can swim more than 30 miles per hour.
Flippers of the humpback whale can be as long as 15 feet.
All whales are very noisy. They moan, groan, squeak and sigh to talk to each other. These underwater sounds can travel great distances. Whale are the loudest animals in the world.
Whales "migrate" further than any other animal. Migrating means to move from one area to another.
In the warm summer months, whales feast to build up their blubber and other fat reserves. Then, as the weather and water begin to cool when winter approaches, the whales begin their migration to warmer places. They do not stop to eat, but swim almost constantly, stopping only to rest for short periods of time.
Every year Baleen whales migrate to warmer water to mate, give birth and raise their young calves. Being air-breathing, baby whales are usually born tail first. It is important that as soon as they are born they reach the surface of the water to take in their first breath, otherwise they could drown. The mothers' milk is rich and high in fat content, and the calf gains weight and grows very quickly, as it learns to swim, search for food and communicate with others.
Sometimes, as the whales are migrating, they swim very close to the shore and can be seen "blowing" and jumping out of the water. This jumping is called "breaching." Whale watching is popular in many coastal areas.