The whale is a reptile or mammal. Why are whales considered mammals? Dolphins have an elongated, streamlined, fusiform body that is designed for high speeds underwater. Basic color - shades of gray with enlightenment or, conversely, dark

Whales
(Cetacea)
a detachment of exclusively aquatic mammals, which include whales, dolphins and porpoises. A streamlined, often torpedo-shaped body gives them an external resemblance to fish. However, cetaceans are warm-blooded, breathe atmospheric air, carry a fetus in the uterus, give birth to a fully developed cub capable of independent existence, which the mother feeds with milk, and the remnants of the hairline are distinguishable on their body. In these and some other features, they are similar to other mammals, and overall plan their structure also indicates that they belong to this class of animals. The body of cetaceans, rounded in cross-section, tapers towards the end and ends with a pair of wide, flattened in the horizontal plane of the caudal fins. These fins, although they are devoid of a bone skeleton (there is a cartilaginous supporting tissue inside them), serve as the main organ that ensures the movement of the animal forward. The pectoral fins, or flippers, correspond to the forelimbs of land mammals; their carpal parts are not dissected outwardly, and sometimes are spliced ​​inside, forming spatulate structures. They serve as stabilizers, "rudders", and also provide cornering and braking. There are no hind limbs, although rudiments of the pelvic bones are found in some species. The neck is very short, since the seven cervical vertebrae common for mammals are greatly shortened and fused into one or several plates, the total length of which does not exceed 15 cm. The body of cetaceans is covered with smooth, shiny skin that facilitates sliding in water. Under the skin is a layer of fatty tissue (blubber) with a thickness of 2.5 to 30 cm. Fat protects the body from hypothermia and helps to retain water in the body that would otherwise diffuse into the environment; body temperature is maintained at about 35 ° C. The animals do not need a coat, as fat provides sufficient thermal insulation, however, sparse hair can be found on the snout during embryonic stages and in adults. The head is very large and wide. The neck is so shortened that outwardly the border between the head and the body is not noticeable. There are no external ears, but there is an ear canal that opens with a small opening in the skin and leads to the eardrum. The eyes are very small, adapted to life at sea. They are able to withstand high pressure when the animal is immersed to a great depth, large fat tears are released from the lacrimal ducts, which help to see clearer in the water and protect the eyes from the effects of salt. Nostrils - one (in toothed whales) or two (in baleen whales) - are located in the upper part of the head and form the so-called. blowhole. In cetaceans, unlike other mammals, the lungs are not connected to the oral cavity. The animal inhales air as it rises to the surface of the water. Its blood is capable of absorbing more oxygen than that of land mammals. Before immersion in the water, the lungs are filled with air, which, while the whale remains under water, heats up and saturated with moisture. When the animal floats to the surface, the air it exhales with force, in contact with the cold outside, forms a column of condensed steam - the so-called. fountain. Thus, whale fountains are not columns of water at all. In different species, they are not the same in shape and height; for example, in a southern whale, the fountain bifurcates at the top. The exhaled air is pushed out through the blowhole under such strong pressure that it produces a loud trumpet sound, which is heard in calm weather. long distance ... The respirator is equipped with valves that close tightly when the animal is immersed in water and open when it ascends to the surface. The order of cetaceans is divided into two suborders: toothed whales (Odontoceti) and baleen whales (Mysticeti). The former are considered less specialized; these include, in particular, beaked whales, sperm whales, killer whales, as well as smaller forms - dolphins and porpoises. Sperm whales reach a length of 18 m with a mass of 60 tons; the length of their lower jaw reaches 5-6 m. The teeth of baleen whales are replaced by long, fringed horny plates (whalebone) hanging from the upper jaw and forming a filter for straining small crustaceans and fish from the water. This suborder includes minke whales, as well as blue, humpback, dwarf, smooth, bowhead and other whales. Individuals of the blue whale reach a length of 30 m. This animal is even larger than giant dinosaurs. It can weigh as much as 150 bulls or 25 elephants. Fossil remains of primitive whales, zeuglodonts ("jugular"), have been found in marine sediments in Africa, Europe, New Zealand, Antarctica and North America. Some of them were giants with a length of more than 20 m. The whale can reach enormous sizes, since its limbs do not have to support its body weight: in the water it is, as it were, weightless. A large whale swimming at a speed of 20 knots (37 km / h) "generates" 520 hp of energy. with. Whales swallow food whole and consume up to a ton of food per day. The sperm whale has a very wide pharynx, so that it can freely swallow a person, but in baleen whales it is much narrower and passes only small fish. The sperm whale feeds mainly on squid and often feeds deeper than 1.5 km, where pressures exceed 100 kg / cm2. The killer whale is the only representative of the order that regularly eats not only fish and invertebrates, but also warm-blooded animals - birds, seals and whales. Cetaceans have a very long intestine and a complex multichamber stomach, consisting, for example, of beaked whales of 14 divisions, and in smooth whales - of 4. The female gives birth to one cub under water. It comes out of her body tail first. The cub is fully developed and is almost immediately able to follow the herd. It suckles for about 6 months and grows rapidly, reaching maturity by three years of age, although the increase in size continues until 12 years. Most large whales breed once every two years. Despite their enormous size, these animals are not that durable. Science knows very few examples of smooth whales over 20 years old. Herds of whales can commit something akin to mass suicide. Sometimes a hundred or more of them are simultaneously washed ashore. Even if the panting animals are towed back into the sea, they return to land again. The reasons for this behavior have not yet been clarified. Whales provide people with many useful foods. People have hunted them since antiquity, and whaling existed even before the 10th century. In addition to meat, whale oil (blubber), which is used to make soaps and cosmetic creams, is of great value. Ambergris is extracted from the intestines of sperm whales; this grayish substance is secreted there as a result of irritation of the mucous membrane caused by the horny jaws of ingested squid. Ambergris pieces weigh up to 13 kg, and the mass of its largest "nugget" is 122 kg. It contains sodium chloride, calcium phosphate, alkaloids, acids and the so-called ambrine; this substance is lighter than fresh and salt water, softens in the hands, melts at temperatures below 100 °, and evaporates with stronger heating. Ambergris was once highly prized as a perfume fixer. At present, whaling is almost universally prohibited, since as a result of irrational hunting, the population of whales has been greatly reduced and some of their species are on the verge of extinction. International agreements allow the capture and butchering of individual specimens for scientific research. In addition, some peoples, such as the Eskimos, for whom whale hunting is one of the most important traditional activities, are allowed to continue it on a limited scale.
Mounted whales
Baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti) got their name from the long horny plates of the so-called. whalebones in their mouths instead of teeth. They hang from the upper to the lower jaw on both sides of the oral cavity perpendicular to the body axis. Each plate is a thin strip of roughly triangular shape, smooth on both sides. The outer edge is even, while the inner and lower ones bear a fringe of long bristles that form a filter for filtering out small animals from sea water. Whalebone does not dissolve in water or natural acids and is never discarded. It consists of a strong and resilient substance called keratin, which forms the nails, claws and horns of terrestrial vertebrates. Not all baleen whales are giants, but they are all large animals several meters long. However, the pharynx of any of their species is not wider than our fist. The largest baleen whales feed mainly on planktonic crustaceans, and some of the smaller members of the suborder mainly feed on schooling fish. All species have two nostrils, close to the blowhole, always shifted far back, which allows the animal to breathe, only slightly pushing the top of the head out of the water. When a whale opens its mouth to grab food, water does not enter its lungs because the nasal passage leads directly to the trachea and is not connected to the pharynx. In the past, the whalebone was highly prized; in the late 1800s, it was priced at $ 7 per pound (453 g), and some animals could produce almost 1.5 tonnes of this product. It was used to stiffen bustles, bodices, collars and crinolines. After the use of steel frames for all this, the whalebone trade fell into decay. The suborder is divided into three families: gray whales, minke whales, and smooth whales.
Gray whales (Eschrichtiidae)... There is only one species in this family - the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) - a slate-gray animal up to 15 m long, whose range is limited by the coastal waters of the North Pacific Ocean. The head is relatively small, on the back instead of a fin there is a small hump, on the throat there are 2-4 longitudinal grooves. The whisker is yellowish, its plates are rather thick, 35-45 cm long. The body is often covered with rounded white spots - traces of sea acorns and other "fouling" of the skin.
The gray whale spends summer in the coastal waters of the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and migrates south in winter, reaching Mexico, Japan and Korea. It stays in shallow places, so that sometimes water barely covers its back. It feeds on planktonic crustaceans, which are abundant in the northern seas during the summer months. Before releasing a fountain 3-3.5 m high, the animal makes trumpet sounds for 8-10 minutes. Like all baleen whales, the female is larger than the male. Both parents are very attached to their cubs, which are born in January. The newborn reaches a length of 4.5-5.5 m. It sucks the mother for 6-8 months, growing during this time up to 7.5 m. Parents zealously protect the offspring and, sensing danger, can attack a boat and even a swimmer.
Striped (Balaenopteridae).
Finwhal (Balaenoptera physalus), also called herring whale, is a large animal with a wedge-shaped head, a long, slender body and a high dorsal fin, shifted far back; on the throat it has from 40 to 120 deep longitudinal folds. The body is grayish brown above and white below. The length of the whalebone plate reaches 90 cm, and the whole body is 25 m. One fin whale with a length of 23 m weighed 60,000 kg, of which approx. 8500 kg fell on bones, 475 kg on a whalebone, 1200 kg on a tongue and 2700 kg on a head with a lower jaw. The species is common in all oceans and migrates in herds ranging from a few to more than 100 individuals. Migrations are seasonal: the finwhale spends summer in the Arctic and Antarctic, and winter in warmer seas. It feeds mainly on planktonic crustaceans, less often schooling fish, such as herring. The fin whale does not have a specific breeding season. A baby 6 m long is born 10-15 months after conception; the mother feeds him for 6 months or longer. Life expectancy is 20-25 years. Seiwal, or sidey (willow) whale (Balaenoptera borealis), according to general features, it is similar to the fin whale, but does not exceed 18 m in length. It migrates across the oceans, feeding on plankton and throwing out conical fountains 2-2.5 m high into the air. appears in their waters at the same time as pollock (seje). A close relative of the seyval lives in tropical seas - Bride's minke, almost indistinguishable from it. Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)- the smallest of the minke whales, i.e. whales with folds in their throats. Its color is bluish-gray above and white below; a distinctive feature is a wide white stripe crossing the pectoral fins. Length up to 10 m; from the chin to the chest there are about 60 furrow-folds. The whisker is yellowish white. Distributed more or less everywhere; often enters bays and bays. Humpback whale, or humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae), - a large animal with a dense, shortened body; the back and sides are blackish, and the color of the belly varies from black or variegated to white. The maximum length is approximately 15 m. An individual with a length of 14 m can weigh over 40,000 kg and produce approx. 4000 l of fat; the weight of one heart alone is approx. 200 kg. The length of the pectoral fins is more than a quarter, sometimes almost a third of the total body length, which is reflected in the generic name - Megaptera, i.e. "big fin". Their edge is uneven, bumpy. The flattened head ends with a snout rounded at the end, bordered by uneven rows of "warts" with a hair on each of them. The posterior edges of the caudal fin are also scalloped. There are fewer folds on the throat than on the fin whale, and the distances between them are wider. Whalebone plates are blackish, up to 1 m long; their approx. 400 on each side. The humpback can be found in all oceans. Its herds migrate with the change of seasons and depending on the amount of food, spending the winter in tropical waters. It feeds on planktonic crustaceans and small fish. Pregnancy lasts 11 months; the calf's body length at birth is 4.5 m, and the weight is approx. 1400 kg. Humpback whales often completely jump out of the water in an upright position and fall back with a deafening splash, either playing or trying to throw off the barnacle fouling crustaceans. And sometimes they seem to "stand on their heads", desperately pounding the water with their huge tail fins. However, this species is especially famous for the extensive repertoire of sounds it makes; even recordings of his "songs" are being sold. The whalers nicknamed him "Gorbach" for the way he arches his back during "singing".

Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)- the largest of all animals that have ever existed on Earth. The female is always larger than the male and reaches a length of 30 m with a mass of more than 100 tons. The color is not blue, but rather bluish-gray with silver-gray spots of irregular shape. The belly is sometimes yellowish due to microscopic diatoms clinging to it. The small dorsal fin is strongly pushed back; numerous throat grooves extend far into the belly. On each side of the mouth there are approximately 365 blue-black whalebone plates up to 1 m long. The blue whale spends summer near pack ice in the polar regions of both hemispheres. He usually swims at a speed of 12 knots (22 km / h), and if necessary, twice as fast. Before deep diving, the animal lifts huge tail fins into the air; it can stay under water for up to 20 minutes. The height of the fountain reaches 6 m. The blue whale feeds on planktonic crustaceans, absorbing up to a ton of food for each "meal". The cub is born 10-11 months after conception; the body length of the newborn reaches 7.5 m, and the weight is approx. 4 tons. The mother feeds him for 6-7 months. Blue whales reach sexual maturity in the tenth year of life.

Smooth whales (Balaenidae) characterized by the absence of grooves in the throat.
Bowhead, or polar whale (Balaena mysticetus)- an animal with a stocky, dense body; matt black color. The length reaches 18 m; more than a third is a huge head, and a bull can easily fit in the mouth formed by giant arched jaws. On each side of the oral cavity there are 360 ​​whalebone plates, each 2-4.5 m long. In the past, the bowhead whale has been hunted so intensely that it is nearly extinct. This animal was an easy prey for whalers, as it moves at a speed of less than 13 km / h. The length of the newborn cub is 4-4.5 m; he stays with his mother for about a year.

South whale (Eubalaena glacialis)- a dull black stocky animal 14-15 m long (almost a third of its length per head). At the top of the snout is a large horny growth, usually dotted with whale lice. On each side of the mouth there are 250 whalebone plates, sometimes more than 2 m long. The fountain formed by it in the form of the letter V is directed forward; it reaches a height of 4.5 m. The southern whale has always been a favorite prey of whalers, as it swims slowly, gives large quantities of high-quality fat and whalebone, and besides, its carcass keeps well on the water, it is easy to spot and, having knocked out, tow behind the vessel. It was once often found in the temperate and cold waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the seas of the Southern Hemisphere, but now it is on the verge of extinction. Mating in the southern whale occurs in colder parts of its range, and the calf is born in temperate waters. The female feeds him for six months or longer. She is very attached to the cub and does not abandon him, even if her life is in danger. There are three subspecies of southern right whales: the Biscay (E.g. glacialis) from the North Atlantic, the Japanese (E.g. japonica) from the North Pacific, and the Australian (E.g. australis) from the Southern Hemisphere. Some zoologists consider them independent species... The number of all three is very small due to the centuries-old barbaric trade.

Pygmy whale (Neobalaena marginata)- the smallest and rarest of the baleen whales. The length does not exceed 6 m. Special features include 17 pairs of very thin but wide ribs, a shallow head and dorsal fin, which are absent in other smooth whales. The whalebone is white with a black outer edge. The dwarf whale is common in Australian and New Zealand waters, as well as off the coast of South America and South Africa.
TOOTHED WHALES
To the suborder of toothed whales (Odontoceti) include cetaceans with teeth - either on the front of the lower jaw, or on both jaws (in some species, the teeth are not functional). Males are usually larger than females. The main food of almost all species is fish or squid. Unlike baleen whales, toothed whales have unpaired nostrils. Sperm whale (Physeter catodon)- the most famous of all whales. It is capable of diving to a depth of over 1.5 km, staying there for an hour, and then surfacing, apparently without experiencing any special overloads. Males reach a length of 18-20 m; females are smaller, 11-13 m. One 13-meter sperm whale weighed 40,000 kg, of which 420 was in the liver, and 126 in the heart. The pectoral fins are short and the dorsal fin is represented by a thick, low hump. The sperm whale usually swims at a speed of 4 knots (7.5 km / h), and, if necessary, three times faster. The head, which makes up a third of the total body length, is blunt in front and can be used as a huge ram; in the past, wooden whaling ships were punctured by such blows. On the head there is a large fat pad filled with an oily liquid - spermaceti. The long (5.5 m) but narrow lower jaw bears 8 to 36 pairs of strong conical teeth, each weighing about 1 kg. There are no more than 1-3 pairs of them on the upper jaw, and they are non-functional. The breath is S-shaped and is displaced to the left front corner of the head. The sperm whale can be recognized by its short, wide fountain pointing forward and upward. When a whale dives deeply or makes sounds, it lifts its tail fins high into the air and sinks vertically into the water. Fountains appear at intervals of approximately 10 s; the animal can remain on the surface for up to 10 minutes, making about 60 breaths during this time. The sperm whale is polygamous: a harem numbering up to 10-15 females follows the male along with the suckers. The father does not show any interest in the offspring. There is no specific breeding season. Cubs up to 4 m long are born one year after conception and suckle for 6 months or longer; during feeding, she turns on her side so that the baby can breathe normally. The sperm whale reaches its maximum size in the ninth year of life; lives, apparently, only 15-20 years. His main food is squid and cuttlefish, which he catches at the bottom, using his long jaws. Adult sperm whales consume up to a ton of feed per day. Animals migrate in thousands of herds.

Pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) differs from "simple" small and, in comparison with the body, the head rounded in front. The back and sides are black, the belly is lighter, the mouth is pink; the dorsal fin is sickle-shaped. The length of mature individuals is only approx. 4 m, weight about 400 kg. The lower jaw is narrow, with 8-16 narrow, pointed teeth on each side. This species also dives to great depths and hunts squid and cuttlefish there. Distributed in warm waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans; individuals have been found ashore in the states of New York, New Jersey and California, Nova Scotia, Peru, the Netherlands, South Africa and Tasmania. Belukha (Delphinapterus leucas) characterized by a white or yellowish color; this species has no dorsal fin. Newborn belugas are grayish-brown; as they grow, they become variegated and finally completely brighten, except for the grayish-brown bordering of the caudal lobes. Each side of the upper jaw has 10 teeth and the lower one has 8 teeth. With them, the whale grabs and holds food, consisting of squid and fish. Adult males reach a length of 3.5-5 m with an average weight of 900 kg, although in some individuals it exceeds 1500 kg; females are somewhat smaller. Beluga whale is circumpolar and lives among icebergs and floating ice Arctic. In July, it enters some northern rivers, chasing salmon that rise to their spawning grounds. The whale itself migrates in herds, which can include from several to a thousand individuals, although nowadays large concentrations of these animals are rare. Sometimes a herd of belugas is captured by ice. In 1898, at Cape Barrow, Alaska, 900 belugas were cut off from open sea pack ice and locked in a space 135 m long and 45 m wide. The Eskimos took advantage of this, killing hundreds of whales in a day. Belukha swims at a speed of 5 knots (9.5 km / h). It makes various sounds, reminiscent of whistles, roars, squeals and bells ringing, interspersed with chirps and clicks. This whale received the name "beluga whale" for its color. However, it has nothing to do with the white whale from Herman Melville's famous book Moby Dick - it is about the albino sperm whale. Narwhal, or unicorn (Monodon monoceros) possesses an unusual feature - a long (up to 3 m) ivory tusk, helically twisted clockwise and protruding forward from the left half of the upper jaw. In principle, two tusks are laid in young, but in males only one develops, and in females both remain hidden in the gums. As far as is known, the tusk is not a weapon of attack; however, it is possibly used in fights for females. The body length of a sexually mature narwhal is 3.5-4.5 m, and that of a newborn is approx. 1.5 m. The color of adults is dark, with numerous yellowish-white spots, but old whales are also almost white in color. The muzzle is rounded; no dorsal fin. Narwhals are inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic, although there are cases when they sailed to the shores of England and Holland. When the sea freezes in winter, the males break through the vents in the ice crust with their tusks; beluga whales can be seen along with narwhals near such holes. When the animal emerges, air rushes out of its breath with a high-pitched whistle. Narwhals also emit low sounds, reminiscent of mooing, with which, it is believed, the mother calls the cub. These whales feed on cod, salmon, stingrays, halibuts, flounder, gobies, shrimp, cuttlefish and other marine animals, which they swallow whole. Narwhal meat is eaten by the Eskimos, who also use their fat for their lamps, and their intestines for making ropes and fishing rods. Belt teeth (Mesoplodon) reach an average length of 4.5-6.5 m. The snout is elongated into a tapering rounded beak. The head is small, narrow; the dorsal fin is small, shifted far back. One of distinctive features- a pair of grooves on the throat. Belt-teeth lead a more or less solitary lifestyle. They are often found in warm waters in both hemispheres. Their main food is squid and cuttlefish. In males of one of the species - Tru (M. mirus) - teeth are located at the very end of the lower jaw, while in the female they are not visible at all. The Antillean belttooth, or the whale Gervais (M. gervais), reaches a length of 6 m. The male Atlantic belttooth, or the whale Sauverby (M. bidens), has two very large teeth on the lower jaw. Real beak (Ziphius cavirostris) much larger and more massive than belt-teeth. The body length of sexually mature males reaches 8.5 m. At the end of the lower jaw there is a pair of thin conical teeth. The eyes are rather large for cetaceans. The color is black, brown or grayish, depending on gender and age; over the years, the color of the head lightens. The dorsal fin is strongly pushed back. As is often seen in whales that feed on squid and cuttlefish, the sides and head of the beak are usually covered with scars and scratches from wounds inflicted by these animals. Beaked whales migrate from the Arctic to the Antarctic in groups of 30-40 individuals. There is little information about their lifestyle. It is known that they can stay under water for more than half an hour. Judging by the scars on the males, there are fierce battles between them for females. Tasmanov beaked (Tasmacetus shepherdi) got its scientific name from the Tasman Sea, where it was first discovered, and from the ancient Greek word "ketos" - whale. Almost nothing is known about this species, except that it has approx. 90 functional teeth, of which two anterior ones on the lower jaw are bulbous swollen. Northern drifter (Berardius bairdi)- the largest member of the beaked family, reaching a length of 12 m in an adult state. It has a small dorsal fin and a well-developed beak; the back and sides are black, and the belly is gray. On each side of the lower jaw there are two large teeth embedded in cartilaginous sheaths. The sounds emitted by this whale resemble the roar of a bull. Tall bottlenose (Hyperoodon ampullatus), a kind of beaked. Adults reach a length of 10.5 m and produce almost a ton of fat. A high frontal protrusion with a fat pad containing spermaceti almost overhangs a short, wide beak. Sexually mature males have a white spot on the forehead. Breeding season is in April or May; the only calf is born one year after conception. Of the two pairs of teeth located at the end of the lower jaw, all adult females and many males retain only one. The tall-faced bottlenose stays in the Arctic in summer and migrates to the south in winter, to the latitude of the Mediterranean Sea. A related species, the flat-faced bottlenose (Hyperoodon planifrons), lives in Antarctica. Bottlenose birds migrate in large herds, often of several hundred individuals, and dive to great depths in search of their favorite food - squid and cuttlefish.
see also

The whale is a sea monster. In the truest sense of the word. After all, this is how the Greek word is translated, from which the name of this amazing animal comes - κῆτος. Much can be said about marine life belonging to the order of cetaceans. But it is worth dwelling on the most interesting facts.

Name

The first step is to answer a question that worries many. And it sounds like this: "Is the whale a fish or a mammal?" The second of the proposed options is correct.

The whale is a large marine mammal that has nothing to do with porpoises or dolphins. Although they are included in the order Cetacea (cetaceans). In general, a very interesting situation is obtained with the names. Grindas and killer whales, for example, are considered whales. Although, in accordance with the strict official classification, they are dolphins, which few people know about.

And trust is better than a strict classification, since whales in the old days were called leviathans - many-headed sea monsters that could devour the planet. In a word, the title has an entertaining story.

Origin

Well, above was the answer to the question "Is the whale a fish or a mammal?" Now we can talk about the types of these creatures.

To begin with, it should be noted that all whales are descendants of land mammals. And those who belonged to the groups of artiodactyls! This is not fiction, but a scientifically proven fact that was established after carrying out molecular genetic examinations. There is even a monophyletic group (clade) that unites whales, hippos and all artiodactyls. All of them are cetopods. According to research, whales and hippos evolved from the same creature that lived on our planet about 54 million years ago.

Detachments

So, now - about the types of whales. Or rather, about suborders. The first species is baleen whales. They are the largest modern mammals. Their physiological feature is a mustache with a filter-like structure.

The second species is toothed whales. Carnivorous, fast creatures. They are superior to toothless whales. In size, only the sperm whale can compare with them. And their feature, as you might have guessed, is the presence of teeth.

And the third type is ancient whales. Those that no longer exist. They belong to the paraphyletic group of animals, from which they later descended modern species whales.

Anatomical features

Now it is worth considering the description of the whale from a physiological point of view. This animal is a mammal, and it is warm-blooded. Accordingly, each whale breathes with the help of its lungs, and the females feed their cubs with milk. And these creatures have hair, albeit reduced.

Because these mammals are exposed to the sun, their skin is protected from ultraviolet rays. True, in each species it is expressed in different ways. A blue whale, for example, can increase the content of special pigments in its skin that absorb radiation (in simple terms, it “tans”). The sperm whale defends itself against oxygen radicals by triggering a "stress response." Finwal practices both methods.

By the way, these creatures maintain their warm-bloodedness due to the presence of a thick fat layer under the skin. It is he who protects internal organs sea ​​animals from hypothermia.

Oxygen absorption process

It is also interesting to talk about how whales breathe. These mammals can stay under water for at least 2 minutes and maximum 40. True, there is a record holder, and he is a sperm whale, which is able to stay under water for 1.5 hours.

The outer nostrils of these creatures are at the top of the head. They have special valves that reflexively close the airways when the whale is immersed in water. At the moment they emerge, they open. It is important to know that the airway does not connect to the esophagus. So the whale absorbs air safely, without harm to itself. Even if there is water in his mouth. And by the way, speaking about how whales breathe, it is worth noting that they do it quickly. The shortened bronchi and trachea contribute to the speed. By the way, their lungs are very powerful. In one breath, the whale renews the air by 90%. And a person - only 15%.

It is worth noting that a column of condensed vapor comes out through the nostrils (also referred to as the blowhole) at the moment of emerging. The same fountain that is business card whales. This is due to the fact that the whale exhales warm air from itself, which comes into contact with the outside (cold). So the fountain is the result of temperature exposure. The vapor column differs in height and shape in different whales. The most impressive are the "fountains" of large mammals. They come out of their breath with such a tremendous power that the process is accompanied by a loud trumpet sound. In fine weather it can be heard from the shore.

Food

A few words should be told about what whales eat. The diet of animals is varied. Toothed whales, for example, consume fish, cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish) and, in some cases, mammals.

Mustached representatives feed on plankton. They absorb a huge volume of crustaceans, filtering it out of the water or with the help of a mustache. These animals can also feed on small fish.

The most interesting thing is that whales hardly eat in winter. And for this reason, in the summer, they continuously consume food. This approach helps them accumulate a thick layer of fat.

By the way, they need a lot of food. Large whales consume about three tons of food per day.

A bright representative

The blue whale deserves special attention. This is the largest animal that ever existed on our planet. It reaches 33 meters in length and weighs about 150 tons.

By the way, the blue whale is a representative of the baleen suborder. It feeds on plankton. He has a well-developed filtering apparatus, due to which he filters the absorbed mass inward.

There are three subspecies of this animal. There are pygmy, southern and northern whales. The latter two live in cold, circular waters. Dwarf is found in tropical seas.

It is believed that blue whales live for about 110 years. In any case, so much was the most adult individual that people met.

Unfortunately, the blue whale is not a very common marine life. In the XX century, uncontrolled hunting was opened on these animals. By the middle of the last century, only 5 thousand individuals remained in the whole world. People have done a terrible thing by exterminating them. Emergency protective measures were taken. On the this moment the number of individuals has doubled, but blue whales are still at risk.

Belukha

This is a representative of the toothed whales of the narwhal family. Beluga whales are not very large. Its mass reaches only 2 tons, and its length is 6 meters. Beluga whales have excellent hearing, keen perception of any sounds, and the ability to echolocate. In addition, these are social creatures - there are cases in which these whales saved a person. In aquariums, they get along well, over time they get used to people, and even become attached to the workers.

Their diet is varied. Beluga whales eat cod, flounder, herring, molluscs, seaweed, shrimps, lampreys, rib jellyfish, pink salmon, gobies, bleach, crayfish and many other marine life that are good for food.

These creatures, like many others, also suffered from human cruelty. The whalers easily drove them to the shallows, and beluga whales literally crashed. But at the moment this species is gradually recovering its numbers. It remains to be hoped that people will not spoil anything.

There are dozens of other representatives of cetaceans, and all are special and interesting in their own way. And I would like to hope that every species that we know will survive. Sea world should not lose any of them, because each of them is a real miracle and natural value.

Some of the whales are among the largest animals in the world. Biologists distinguish between two suborders of whales - toothed and baleen. Toothed whales belong to about 80 species, and to baleen only 10. The body length of toothed whales varies between 1.3 and 20 m, and the mass is from 30 kg to 40 tons. The body length of baleen whales ranges from 5 to 35 m, weight 4.5 -135 m. The forelimbs of all whales turned into rigid pectoral fins, while the hind limbs and pelvis disappeared altogether. However, a few bones from the pelvis remained in the skeleton. Whales have a large head and a vertical tail fin. They swim in all the oceans of the planet.

Toothed whales, as the name implies, have preserved teeth in their mouths. They are predators, hunt for cephalopods and fish, as well as penguins and seals. The most famous among them is the sperm whale (Physeter catodon), with a body length of up to 20 m and a weight of up to 40 tons. Much smaller than the sperm whale, the grinda, or the ball-headed dolphin (Globicephala melaena), with a black-brown color and a body length of about 8 m, and grayish - white beluga whale (body length up to 6.5 m). A close relative of the grinda, the black and white killer whale (Orcinus orca) (body length up to 8 m, weight 7t) is a large and predatory dolphin, about which sinister legends go among sailors.

The most famous group of toothed whales are dolphins. These animals are known to everyone from dolphinariums and television programs... Usually we are talking about the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), reaching a length of 4 m and a weight of 350 kg. At the end of the 20th century, it is numerically estimated at 5 million.

In the mouth of baleen whales, there is a filtering apparatus made of narrow vertical plates with a bristle fringe. These plates form a filter in which different animals get stuck. Baleen whales open their mouths, take in water and close them again. They then squeeze the water out, and the food remains on the plates.

The most famous species of baleen whales are dwarf whales (Caperea marginata), gray, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and, above all, blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus). The dwarf smooth whale (body length up to 6.5 m, weight up to 3.5 tons) is the most common of the baleen whales. Its population is estimated at 300 thousand animals. The humpback whale (body length 19 m, weight 45 tons) is the most interesting to watch. This powerful animal sometimes jumps out of the water many times in a row.

The blue whale is the largest animal currently existing on Earth. It reaches 35 meters in length and weighs up to 130 tons, which is equal to the mass of 30 elephants, 150 cars or 1600 people. Due to modern fishing techniques, the blue whale is on the verge of extinction today. Its number is estimated at only 10 thousand individuals.

Finwhale (B. physalus) is inferior in size to blue: its length is only 19.5-21 m. This slender animal has a fairly high speed - 14-17 km / h, if you scare him, the speed will increase to 25-30 km / h , and at the moment of a jerk it can even exceed 40 km / h. Unfortunately, the number of fin whales is decreasing every year.

Gray whale (Eschrichtius gibbosus)

The quantity	Body length 12-15 m, weight 25-30 t
Signs	Large mustachioed whale; the pointed head is slightly compressed from the sides; body color is gray-brown with numerous light spots; the body is overgrown with many barnacles
Food	Bottom invertebrates, crustaceans, sponges, worms and other small animals
Reproduction	Pregnancy for about 1 year; 1 cub; newborn weight 700-1200 kg
Habitat	The eastern coast of Russia and the western coast of North America from the Bering Sea (fattening up in summer) to the Gulf of California (giving birth to young); regular annual migration from north to south and vice versa; the number is estimated at 12 thousand individuals

Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas)

The quantity	Body length 4-6.5 m, weight 500-1400 kg
Signs	Medium whale; a round head with a bulging forehead ("melon"); the dorsal fin is absent; the color of young animals is gray, of adults - pure white
Food	Fish, as well as crustaceans, molluscs and worms; seeks food both at the bottom and in the middle layers of the sea
Reproduction	Pregnancy for about 1 year; 1 cub; birth weight about 70 kg, body length about 1.5 m; calves are born in July - August
Habitat	Swims near the coast, especially fjords and estuaries of large rivers; can sometimes swim into rivers; distributed in the Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere; total number of 15-20 thousand animals

Whales

Of all mammals inhabiting the Earth, the largest are whales. They are toothed and mustachioed. The former include sperm whales, killer whales, dolphins, porpoises, beluga whales; they have teeth with which they grip prey. There are 23 species of toothed whales in the seas of the USSR, while baleen whales have only 9. Baleen whales have 300-400 triangular horn plates instead of teeth on both sides of the upper jaw. This is the "mustache". The length of such plates sometimes reaches 4 m.

In some species of baleen whales, the belly is furred with numerous longitudinal folds - such whales are called minke whales; in others, the belly is smooth - these are smooth whales; the third - gray whales - have 2-3 folds on their throats. They got their name because of the gray color of the body. All whales quickly swim and dive, they are very similar in body shape to fish, only the blades of the caudal fin are located horizontally, not vertically. But they cannot be attributed to fish: these are sea animals. Whales breathe with their lungs, they have a constant body temperature, they give birth to live young and feed them with milk.

The female bears a cub for a whole year. He is born under the surface of the sea. The newborn is born rather large - only 2 - 3 times smaller than the mother, sighted and mobile. He follows his mother everywhere, who has been feeding him milk for more than six months. This milk is half fat; it is 8-10 times more nutritious than cow's milk, which is why whales grow so quickly. The cub has no soft lips, and he does not suck milk. The cub only grasps the mother's nipple tightly with the tip of the mouth, and the mother squeezes special muscles on her belly and injects milk directly into his mouth.

Group jump of trained dolphins in the lagoon in Hawaii.

Toothed whales. - sperm whales. The length of large males of sperm whales reaches 20 m, females are half as long. Sperm whales live in small herds. A herd of females is usually headed by a male. Such herds are found in the tropics, but it happens that they also appear off the coast of Kamchatka.

It will be bad even for a large ship if a sperm whale hits its head! And it is huge, weighs twenty tons - almost as much as the entire body of a whale, but its shape resembles a quay pedestal - dull, as if chopped off in front. The lower jaw is elongated and has approximately 50 shiny, sharp teeth. Above the upper jaw of the sperm whale is a huge fat pad - a sperm bag.

Whales: 1 - bowhead whale; 2 - blue (light blue) whale; 3 - fin whale; 4 - save; 5 - minke whale; 6 - gray whale; 7 - humpback whale; c - sperm whale (male); 9 - sperm whale (female).

One killed sperm whale - an eighteen-meter giant - was found in the stomach of 400 squid 20-30 cm long. Sometimes sperm whales attack very large squids, up to 12 m long. When hunting squid, sperm whales often dive to great depths - to the very bottom, where only deep-sea animals can live. There is a known case when a sperm whale got entangled in an underwater cable and cut it off at a depth of about a thousand meters.

The special structure of the body allows him to descend to such depths and for a long period (up to one hour). The sperm whale has only one nostril at the end of its snout - the left one, and the right one ends with a large subcutaneous air sac. In it, the sperm whale carries an additional supply of air to a depth, using it for sound alarms and as a reserve of oxygen. The sperm whale also stores a large amount of oxygen with the help of the dye hemoglobin contained in the muscles - the so-called myoglobin. The blood flow in a diving sperm whale is redistributed so that oxygen is primarily supplied to the brain and heart muscle.

Killer whales and dolphins. Sometimes in the sea you can see herds of relatively large toothed whales, 5-7 m long. They have high dorsal fins and bright white spots above the eyes. These are marine predators - killer whales. They attack seals, seals, dolphins, and sometimes even a large whale, open their mouths and pull out a soft fat tongue from there, trying to drown the giant. Sometimes a whale, pursued by these predators, is thrown ashore in fear and here most often dies from overheating, since too high a temperature develops in its body, which the air cannot cool. Killer whales are afraid to attack a sperm whale - its teeth are too strong and its strength is not small.

Now killer whales have begun to be kept in captivity in huge sea basins - oceanariums - in the USA, Canada, England, Japan and other countries. It turned out that these are fast-learning animals that lend themselves well to training. The performance of trained killer whales is shown to the general public. The smallest whales - dolphins - can be found in the Black Sea. There are 50 species of them in the World Ocean.

Dolphins: 1 - small killer whale; 2 - large killer whale; 3 - gray dolphin; 4 - grind; 5 - beluga whale; 6 - narwhal (unicorn); 7 - porpoise; 8 - common dolphin; 9 - bottlenose dolphin.

Most dolphin species live in warm waters, some in temperate waters, and only rarely in cold waters. We have in the Arctic seas large six-meter dolphins without a dorsal fin - beluga whales (white dolphins) and narwhals (with spotted coloration), whose males are armed with a straight bone tusk up to 2-3 m long.In the rivers of South America and India, freshwater dolphins live - Amazonian iniya and susuk. Since they live in muddy waters and dig for food, digging in the muddy bottom, their vision is poorly developed, and there are tactile hairs on their long beak. The common dolphin that lives in our Black Sea has about 200 sharp teeth; with them he keeps the slippery fish.

Dolphins are herd animals with a streamlined and perfectly controlled body, swiftly swimming almost at the speed of passenger trains. Vigorous movements cause an excess of heat in their bodies, which they give to the sea water through their fins. When a dolphin is pulled out of the water, if it beats, the fins are hot.

Dolphins perfectly navigate in the water by the method of echolocation: at first they emit clicking sounds, and then they catch the echo of these sounds reflected from the surrounding objects. They emit a variety of sounds with the help of a special sound-signaling organ located in the nostril and consists of muscles and three pairs of air sacs. With the help of the same organ, the dolphin can copy the words of a person, like a parrot. Dolphins' hearing is very thin: they can hear ultrasounds with a frequency of up to 200 kHz, and a person hears sound vibrations of no more than 20 kHz. The dolphin's brain is very large, in the shape and number of convolutions in the cerebral cortex, it resembles the human brain.

Nowadays dolphins are used as circus and laboratory animals. They are kept and studied at home and abroad in special pools. Scientists are examining the skin of high-speed dolphins in order to create the skin of high-speed ships in its likeness, trying to create the same portable and noise-resistant devices - sonars, as dolphins have (see the article "Biology - technology"). These animals are easy to train and learn various tricks. It is possible that dolphins will be tamed in the not too distant future. They will help fishermen find schools of fish, drive them into nets, serve as communications and help aquanauts in various underwater jobs. The taming of dolphins will help humans to master the riches of the sea.

Baleen whales. The largest animal in the world is the mustachioed blue whale. The length of this minke reaches 33 m, and it weighs up to 150 tons (about 25-30 African elephants weigh the same). Longitudinal folds stretch along the belly. The heart of a large whale weighs up to half a ton, the tongue weighs up to 3 tons, and the lungs can hold up to 14 m 3 of air. The blue whale, moving at a speed of 33-37 km / h, can develop a power of 500 hp. with.

Blue whales feed on small fish, molluscs, crustaceans. To feed, such a giant needs to catch hundreds of kilograms of small animals. This is where his "mustache" is needed. Having found a place where there are many crustaceans, the whale opens its mouth and swims forward. The water is filtered between the plates, and the crustaceans get stuck in the "whiskers", like in a sieve. Then he closes his mouth and swallows the prey. From the stomach of a caught blue whale, one and a half tons of no large crustaceans were once removed.

These whales begin to breed at the age of five. By the age of 20, their growth stops, although they live up to 50 years. Blue whales feed in the northern and southern cold seas, and calves are born in warm seas.

The fin whale, or minke whale, is a medium-length whale (18-20 m) much more common in our waters. His belly is snow-white, and his "mustache" is blue. Like the blue whale, the fin whale lives far from the coast, but, in pursuit of fish, occasionally even enters the mouths of large rivers.

Who do you represent when you hear about whales? Someone will think of a huge blue giant, the most powerful marine animal. And some will remember the killer whales because of the famous movie "Free Willy". But no matter what sea inhabitant you imagine, the question always arises: what does the whale breathe? How can he stay under water for a long time? Let's try to answer these questions.

Appearance

Whales are huge mammals that are found all over the world. These giants live in all oceans, both warm and cold. A feature of their appearance is their grandiose size. So, it is the largest. It can reach a length of more than 30 meters and weigh up to 150 tons. But there are also small species, the size of which does not exceed 2 meters.

Interestingly, the whale's head is huge and reaches 1/3 of the length of the entire body. The neck is very short and not noticeable. This raises the question: what does the whale breathe, does it have nostrils like all mammals? It turns out there is. On the head, or rather on its very top, there is a respiratory opening. It must be said that toothed whales have only one nostril on their heads, while baleen whales have two. We all remember the illustrations where the whale is depicted with a fountain over its head. So this fountain is formed when a whale exhales moist air, and by the appearance of the fountain itself, you can recognize the type of cetaceans.

Another common indicator of cetaceans is the presence of powerful fins. Moreover, in different species, they differ in size. It is this feature that gives them the opportunity to develop considerable speed and gives them excellent maneuverability. Interestingly, humpback whales have the largest pectoral fins, similar to giant wings. A blow from the tail of a blue whale can easily sink a ship.

Structural features

Another distinctive feature is that the whale is a warm-blooded animal, unlike all other inhabitants of the world's oceans. This explains the fact that he can live in all seas, regardless of temperature. the environment... The huge fat layer, which in some whales reaches 1 meter, protects the animal from hypothermia. Interestingly, there is no fat in the tail, which explains why the whale does not overheat while in warm tropical waters.

The brains of animals are also unique. Hearing is most developed in cetaceans. Everyone knows the fact that the songs of whales can be heard at a distance of tens of kilometers. They also have excellent echolocation, thanks to which the giants communicate excellently, as well as hunt and move in the water column. Their eyesight is also well developed. With the help of a protective fluid produced by certain glands, the whale is able to see clearly underwater. All other senses are rather poorly developed.

The system has its own characteristics: the whale's lungs are not connected to the larynx. Thus, water is not swallowed during inhalation. The nasal openings, located at the top of the head, are directly connected to the lungs. But what does a whale breathe underwater? The answer is simple: like all mammals, it holds its breath underwater. His nostrils close like valves when immersed. The brain tells the whole body to turn on a kind of economy mode, as a result of which oxygen is supplied only to the heart and brain. This allows whales to dive to a depth of 2000 meters.

Baleen whales

This group of cetaceans is the largest of all existing ones. It includes: fin whale, sei whale, humpback, or humpback and as well as minke whale. All these animals have one structural feature - they do not have teeth, but instead of them there are horn plates, which are called whalebones. It was from this feature that the detachment got its name.

Feed on small plankton or a fish that comes across on their way. An interesting way of feeding these animals. The whale opens its huge mouth and swallows the small change along with a huge amount of water. Then, with the help of a giant tongue, he pushes the water out like a piston, and the food that comes across remains within the mouth, without passing through the mustache. In this way, the whale absorbs up to 6 tons of plankton per day.

Toothed whales

As everyone knows, this squad has sharp teeth. Everyone has it a separate kind they differ in size and shape. This category includes sperm whales, killer whales and dolphins. They differ in taste preferences. Dolphins, for example, love to hunt for fish, while killer whales prefer seals and fur seals in their diet. Sperm whales mostly hunt squid and cuttlefish, while they dive to very great depths.

All toothed whales are excellent hunters. Often, killer whales, also called killer whales, can attack large baleen whales. Their favorite delicacy is huge tongues, the rest of the whale is of little interest to them. Since baleen whales are mostly solitary animals, and toothed whales are gregarious, attacks often occur.

Birth of babies

Since the whale is a warm-blooded animal, the cubs are born fully formed, like in all mammals. What does a whale breathe when it is born? The baby is born tail first and, thanks to the caring mother, takes its first breath immediately after birth. The female pushes him to the surface so that the respiratory system works in full, and the lungs open, just like a human.

It is also interesting that little whales eat milk. An adult has two mammary glands, but the kitten does not suck milk, like all mammals, but receives it by injection. Near the nipple is a system of muscles that perform this function. In addition, the milk is very fatty and thick, so the baby is gaining weight very quickly - up to 100 kilograms per day. The mother and the baby stay on the surface, since the baby cannot yet be under water for a long time. As the kitten grows, it improves in swimming and diving.

Whale songs

The way whales communicate is also unique. These creatures are capable of performing melodies. Often their singing is so harmonious and beautiful that it can calm and even lull a person to sleep. It should be noted that not all giants sing. Especially these abilities are possessed by humpback whales, which are even called singing. Why they make such sounds is still not known. Presumably these are mating songs, but they can change from season to season.

The whale breathes with its lungs. This is an amazing sea creature, which still has many mysteries incomprehensible to us. Until the middle of the 20th century, whales were simply destroyed for the needs of mankind, and today many of them are under protection.

Whales are the largest mammals on the planet. These are the indigenous inhabitants of the seas and oceans. They form a detachment of cetaceans, and the blue whale has the largest size. Its maximum length reaches 33 meters, and its weight reaches 190 tons. By the will of fate, this giant and all the rest of the whale brothers live in the water, but breathe with their lungs. The reason for this is that millions of years ago, marine animals lived on land. For reasons unknown to science, they gradually changed their habitat and turned into underwater inhabitants.

It happened more than 50 million years ago. There was not even a trace of man on Earth, and whales had already plowed the endless oceans and were considered almost the old-timers of the deep sea. Only a few species of these animals remained on land. For example, you can call a hippopotamus. This representative of artiodactyls is the closest relative of powerful marine mammals, although outwardly it is completely different from them.

Whales are divided into two suborders. These are baleen whales and toothed whales. A distinctive feature of baleen whales is the presence of a whalebone. It is a plate that corresponds in its composition to human nails. There is a stiff fringe around the edges of each plate. Plates grow from the upper jaw and act as a filter.

During the hunt, the mustachioed whale opens its huge mouth and sucks in all the living creatures that are nearby. These are tiny crustaceans and small fish. Then the jaws of the mammal close and the ocean fines are trapped. The sea giant presses the tip of the tongue against the upper palate and pushes the water out of its mouth. In this case, the huge tongue serves as a kind of piston. The whalebone prevents the prey from slipping out. Fish and krill remain on the stiff fringe. The whale licks all this living creature with its tongue and swallows it. In this way, he is satisfied.

Baleen whales include the already mentioned blue whale, fin whale, sei whale, minke whale, humpback whale. This is the so-called family of minke whales. There are other families as well. For example, gray whales. They have only one kind. There are also pygmy and smooth whales. The bowhead whale is a representative of the right whale. It differs from minke whales in that the animal's throat does not have special grooves, due to which the pharynx increases in size. It is also radically different and appearance jaws. The lower one resembles the bucket of a huge excavator.

Toothed whales, as the name suggests, have teeth. They are born hunters. They are fed by fish and squid. In this suborder, the tone is set by sperm whales and killer whales. All sea and river dolphins also belong to this company. The sperm whale takes the first place in size. A killer whale follows him. This dolphin can eat both fish and meat. That is, it is the most real bloodthirsty predator.

Although there are a great many species and subspecies, the structure of whales has many similar features. The lungs, whalebone and teeth, which are present in smaller and more aggressive brethren, have already been called. Baleen whales are inherently peaceful. They are huge and good-natured. Few dare to attack such giants. Maybe killer whales. But they are only interested in the fleshy tongues of the mighty mammals. For predatory dolphins, this is a delicacy. With adults blue whales and they cannot cope with fin whales, therefore they choose inexperienced youth as an object of hunting. True, this happens in the ocean space quite rarely.

Whales give birth to live babies. In baleen whales, newborns are born with their head first, and in toothed whales, with their tail forward. The mother immediately pushes the baby to the surface of the water so that he takes the first breath of air in his life. Baby whales are usually called "calves". Newborns are large. In blue whales, the baby reaches a length of 8 meters and weighs 3 tons. And in a killer whale, the calf that was born is 2.5 meters long and weighs 180 kg.

The mother feeds the cub with milk. But he cannot take the mother's nipple into his mouth. The structure of his mouth is not adapted to this. Therefore, the female injects the nutrient fluid into the baby's mouth. Milk is very nutritious. It is thick, like sour cream, and fatty. Therefore, it is not surprising that a young whale grows by leaps and bounds and gains weight quickly.

The structure of whales is unthinkable without a powerful tail, lateral and dorsal fins. In baleen whales, however, the dorsal fin is small, and in some species it is completely absent. In water, the mammal moves forward with the help of the caudal fin, which makes vertical oscillatory movements. At the same time, the body temperature of the animal is kept at around 37 degrees Celsius.

A thick layer of subcutaneous fat saves whales from hypothermia. Adipose tissue envelops the entire body with the exception of the tail. It contains many blood vessels. The warm blood flowing from the body to the back is cooled and, thus, the huge carcass protects itself from overheating. All this once again emphasizes the rationalism and genius of Mother Nature.

Baleen whales, rising from the depths to the surface of the water, release a fountain of water reaching a height of several meters. In reality, this is not water, but a stream of warm air. It mixes with the colder air of the surrounding atmosphere and turns into steam. Visually it also resembles water. Each whale's fountain has its own shape and direction. It can easily identify the type of mammal.

The animal usually stays under water for 20 minutes. Before plunging into the abyss of water, he takes a deep breath of air. At the same time, the lungs take oxygen very quickly, and it enters the bloodstream. It is gradually consumed by the body, providing the whale with a comfortable existence at depth.

The air holes are located on the head. When immersed, they close, that is, they are, as it were, specific check valves. Some species of whales can stay under water for up to an hour and a half.

Whales communicate with each other using echolocation, that is, ultrasound. These are high-frequency waves of short length. Animals generate them themselves and, thus, communicate with fellows. In this case, the distance can be up to several hundred kilometers. Whales also use ultrasound to detect prey, such as large schools of fish.

These animals see well. But in the depths, where eternal darkness reigns, their eyes are unnecessary. But on the sea surface, the whale can see both the ship and the people on its deck. This inhabitant of the ocean expanses does not drink salt water. He compensates for the need for fresh water at the expense of food. Sometimes it sucks water from ice floes, because almost all species of a huge detachment of cetaceans are regulars in cold southern and northern latitudes.

The life span of these mammals is high. There is a strong belief that baleen whales can live for 100 years or more. So these mighty sea animals are not only the largest on Earth, but also live the longest, leaving behind even elephants that calmly live up to 70 years.

Despite the fact that the structure of whales completely excludes the absence of lungs, these mammals cannot live on land. Their skin immediately dries up, and baleen whales, which have a huge weight, suffocate very quickly. The weight of the body compresses the lungs, and the air stops flowing into them. Therefore, marine animals do not exist outside the water. They are an integral part of the oceans, striking people with their grandeur, perfection, as well as intelligence, which is much superior to that of land mammals.