Whales are mammals which means that like humans and other land mammals they have three inner ear bones and hair they breathe air and the females produce milk through mammary glands and suckle their young.Mar 3 2020
What characteristics make a whale a mammal?
They are mammals and they share the defining traits of that group: they breathe air are warm-blooded give live birth suckle their young on milk and have hair. All are entirely aquatic with specialized adaptations such as flippers and tail flukes for living in water.
Why is a whale a mammal but not a shark?
To understand what makes a whale a mammal compare it to an ocean-inhabiting fish of the same general size: a shark. The main differences between cetaceans like whales and fish such as sharks are: Cetaceans breathe oxygen.
Do whales lay eggs or give birth?
Do whales lay eggs? The answer is no. Because whales are marine mammals the females carry the offspring in their wombs and have live births! However since whales are fully aquatic mammals how whales give births is much different than the births of terrestrial and semi-aquatic animals.
What type of whale is a mammal?
Cetacea
Whales belong to the zoological order of marine mammals called Cetacea (which also includes dolphins and porpoises). All such mammals known as cetaceans have a blowhole on the top of the head for breathing a streamlined body and a horizontal fluke (a type of fin) on the tail.
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Why are whales unusual mammals?
Whales are mammals because they give birth to live young they have fur (although it is very sparse on their body) they have lungs and breath air and they provide milk for their young. Answer 3: You have a lot of interesting questions about marine mammals. Dolphins and other whales are all mammals called cetaceans.
What are four characteristics used to classify whales?
Identifying whales at sea
body length.
presence of a dorsal fin.
size and position of the dorsal fin.
shape and size of flippers.
shape of the head and general body shape.
presence of a beak.
shape of the blow.
body colour and patterns.
How big is Megalodon compared to a blue whale?
Well scientists guess that even the biggest Megalodon only reached a mere 58 feet (18 meters) (though some argue it was up to 82 feet [25 meters]). By contrast the largest blue whales clock in at a little more than 100 feet (30 meters) long and on average are between 75-90 feet (23-27 meters) in length.
What is whale milk?
What is whale milk like? As a general rule whale milk is rich in fats and comes in very large quantities! The blue whale has the largest mammary glands on Earth – each is about 1.5m long and weighs as much as a baby elephant. Blue whale mothers can produce 200 litres of milk per day with a fat content of 35-50%.
What is the biggest fish that isn’t a shark?
The first non-shark on the World Atlas’s list of the largest fish living today is a species of ray called Manta birostris known less Latin-ly as the giant ocean manta ray. The giant manta ray can extend 23 feet and weigh three tons.
How many baby whales can a whale have?
Calving and Birth
Baleen whales give birth to a single calf. In most species a female may bear a calf every two to four years. If twins are conceived they are unlikely to survive to full term.
Do whales fart?
Yes whales do fart. … I’m yet to experience this but I know of some lucky scientists who have seen a humpback whale fart. They tell me it looks like bubbles coming out underneath its body near the tail. That’s where the whale bum is — the smellier blowhole.
Can whales breathe water?
They cannot breathe underwater like fish can as they do not have gills. They breathe through nostrils called a blowhole located right on top of their heads. This allows them to take breaths by exposing just the top of their heads to the air while they are swimming or resting under the water.
Are whales classified as mammals?
Whales along with dolphins and porpoises are warm-blooded mammals and breathe air like humans do. There are some significant differences between whales and fish: … Fish use gills to extract air from water. Whales give birth to live young.
Are dolphins whales yes or no?
First thing’s first: all dolphins are whales but not all whales are dolphins. … It may sound confusing but all dolphins are simply smaller types of whales. The whale order (Cetacea) is divided into several different families one of them being Delphinidae (this includes all oceanic dolphin species).
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What makes whales unique?
Whales are mammals just like we are. Just like us they breathe air have hair are warm-blooded give birth to live young and feed their young milk. Whales are unique beautiful graceful and mysterious they nurture form friendships innovate grieve play sing and cooperate with one another.
What makes a whale?
Whales have sleek streamlined bodies that move easily through the water. They are the only mammals other than manatees (seacows) that live their entire lives in the water and the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans. Whales breathe air. They are NOT fish.
How old are whales as a species?
The Origin of Whales or the Evolution. The first whales appeared 50 million years ago well after the extinction of the dinosaurs but well before the appearance of the first humans. Their ancestor is most likely an ancient artiodactyl i.e. a four-legged even-toed hoofed (ungulate) land mammal adapted for running.
How do you identify a whale?
Common Dorsal Fins
An easy way to identify cetaceans to species is by looking at the shape of their dorsal fin. Porpoises have triangular dorsal fins dolphins have curved fins and large whales dorsal fins in all shapes and sizes (or none at all!).
Is a whale shark a whale or a shark?
They’re not whales but the world’s largest fish
But despite their size whale sharks are often referred to as “gentle giants”.
What’s the biggest creature in the ocean?
Antarctic blue whale The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus ssp. Intermedia) is the biggest animal on the planet weighing up to 400 000 pounds (approximately 33 elephants) and reaching up to 98 feet in length.
What is the largest creature to ever exist?
the blue whale Far bigger than any dinosaur the blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever lived. An adult blue whale can grow to a massive 30m long and weigh more than 180 000kg – that’s about the same as 40 elephants 30 Tyrannosaurus Rex or 2 670 average-sized men.Oct 14 2021
Do blue whales eat humans?
Despite their large size blue whales do not eat people. Actually they couldn’t eat a person no matter how hard they tried to. … Without teeth they lack the ability to tear apart their prey so it would likely be impossible for these baleen whales to eat a human.
Do whales sleep?
Observations of bottlenose dolphins in aquariums and zoos and of whales and dolphins in the wild show two basic methods of sleeping: they either rest quietly in the water vertically or horizontally or sleep while swimming slowly next to another animal.
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How do whales reproduce?
Blue whales reproduce via sexual meiosis. The male and female each produce haploid gametes. Male gametes are sperm and the female gametes are eggs. … They fertilize internally meaning sperm is deposited inside the female.
Do whales breastfeed their babies?
Whales don’t have lips so they can’t really suckle the milk. Instead it’s almost injected into the baby’s mouth. This will go on until the baby is weaned from nursing. The older of the two baby beluga is still nursing but is also getting solid food as well.
Which is the fastest fish?
Clocked at speeds in excess of 68 mph some experts consider the sailfish the fastest fish in the world ocean. Easily recognized sailfish are named for the spectacular sail-like dorsal fin that extends for nearly the entire length of their silver-blue body.
What is the largest edible fish?
The white sturgeon is the largest freshwater fish in North America. White sturgeon have been reported to reach lengths of 15-20 feet and weights of nearly one ton.
Which fish is the king of the sea?
Salmon is called the king of fish.
Do whales have twins?
According to Norris (1966) sei whales the third largest whale species on earth have the highest rate of multiple births out of all cetaceans at 1.09%. The majority of cetacean multiple births result in fraternal or dizygotic twins – meaning the fetuses developed from two separate eggs.
Do whales mate for life?
Whales are an extremely social and caring species that protect each other and nurtures their young however when it comes to having a lifelong mating partner the short answer is “no whales do not mate for life”.
What is it called when whales give birth?
Whale offspring like cow babies are called calves. … Whales give birth to their babies instead of laying eggs. This is a characteristic of most mammals (though there are a few strange mammals in Australia like the platypus and echidna that do lay eggs). But wait!
Do spiders fart?
Since the stercoral sac contains bacteria which helps break down the spider’s food it seems likely that gas is produced during this process and therefore there is certainly the possibility that spiders do fart.
Can dolphins sneeze?
Unlike most land mammals dolphins do not breathe through their mouth. … So to sum up the answer as to whether or not dolphins sneeze dolphins do not involuntarily sneeze the way land mammals do.
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