The term “whale” is a word used to describe several different types of marine mammals, which include whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Together these three distinct animal groups make up what is known as the cetacean species.
While the name whale can sometimes refer to all cetaceans (whales, dolphins & porpoises), it usually excludes dolphins and porpoises to ensure that the three animal groups are easily identifiable. These three groups are further separated into two suborders based on their physical characteristics.
The two primary suborders include the Odontoceti suborder (toothed whales), which includes all species of dolphin and porpoise along with whales such as the sperm whale, killer whale (Delphinidae), beluga whale and narwhal whale, and the Mysticeti suborder (baleen whales) which includes the humpback whale, bowhead whale, blue whale and minke whale among other large (toothless) whales.
All species, regardless of their suborder, share several physical characteristics with those who belong to the cetacean family. They all have flippers designed for swimming, a tail with flukes used for navigating the water, and nasal openings (blowholes) for breathing. Because all cetaceans are marine mammals, they are warm-blooded, breathe air, produce milk, and bear offspring, common among all land and marine-based mammals.
Appearance and Features
Depending on the whale’s species, its physical appearance and features can change dramatically. As stated previously, there are two suborders known as the toothed whale and baleen whale suborders. Those who belong to the toothed whale suborder are born with teeth (or tusks) that can be used to consume prey, show aggression, or self-defense.
Cetaceans that belong to the baleen whale suborder possess baleen plates with bristles rather than teeth or tusks and use their bristles to filter their prey from the water.
Cetaceans that fall into the toothed whale suborder tend to be smaller and lighter than their baleen whale relatives. While not always the case, toothed whales also tend to be more social than baleen whales as they generally travel in larger pods together.
As a comparison in regards to size between the two suborders, the largest species of toothed whale is the sperm whale which can grow to lengths of up to 67 ft. long and weigh more than 50 tons, while the largest baleen whale is the blue whale which can exceed 90 ft. long and weigh over 150 tons.
On the other end of the spectrum, the smallest toothed whale is the dwarf sperm whale which measures in at around 9 ft. long and weighs an average of 400 lbs. to 600 lbs., while the minke whale holds the title for the smallest baleen whale with an average length of 22 – 25 ft. long and a weight of up to 10 tons.
To better understand the differences between the toothed whale and baleen whale suborder, let’s take a look at the primary characteristics that separate these two amazing suborders.
Toothed Whales
In addition to possessing teeth, toothed whales can also use echolocation to search for prey and navigate areas where visibility is low. Oddly toothed whales are only born with one blowhole instead of the two blowholes that baleen whales possess.
One of the most common assumptions for this adaptation is that toothed whales developed one of their blowholes into an echolocation system to help them survive in the ocean.
Toothed whales typically have streamlined bodies designed for fast swimming. However, some species do have stockier bodies than others. The shape and size of the head can change from one animal to the next.
Dolphins tend to have longer beaks than porpoises and whales and are also slimmer than many other cetaceans. Their light, thin bodies allow them to quickly accelerate and leap out of the water further than other marine mammals.
Porpoises tend to be stockier than the dolphin species in terms of body shape, while whales can vary greatly in how bulky or streamlined their bodies are from one species to the next.
When it comes to their teeth, the number of teeth that a toothed whale possesses can vary significantly from with species such as the narwhal only possessing one to two teeth (or rather tusks). In comparison, several dolphin species are known to possess over 200 teeth. Some toothed whales may also have teeth present only in their lower jaw, such as the sperm whale.
Although all toothed whales possess teeth, not all of them use their teeth for hunting for food. Some toothed whales may only use their teeth to show aggression towards other whales or self-defense and consume their prey whole. In fact, species such as the sperm whale have been known to successfully capture their prey regularly even when they have a deformed jaw or have lost most/all of their teeth.
Most toothed whales stick to a diet consisting of fish, squid, octopus, and various crustaceans. A few species such as the killer whale and false killer whale may have a more diverse diet that consists of consuming other marine mammals and sharks and the regular prey common among toothed whales.
The types of foods a toothed whale consumes can depend upon its location. For example, depending on the killer whales’ location and pod, their diet can be primarily marine mammal focused or fish and squid based. Species such as the Amazon river dolphin may consume piranha and other local fish that are an uncommon/non-existent food source in other parts of the world.
Baleen Whales
As mentioned before, baleen whales are typically larger than toothed whales both in size and overall weight. However, they completely lack teeth. Instead of teeth, the baleen whale suborder comprises whales that possess baleen plates with bristles. Because these marine mammals lack teeth, they hunt for their food by sifting their prey out of the water with their baleen bristles.
This is done by swimming towards their prey with their mouth open and catching their prey in the bristles, which act as a filter by allowing water to escape while preventing their prey from getting out of the tightly packed bristles.
Depending on the whale’s species, a baleen whale may either continuously skim the water with its mouth open or lunge towards a large swarm of prey and attempt to capture as many fish or krill as they possibly can in a single gulp. Once the whale has captured enough prey, it will push the water out with its tongue and swallow the remaining food.
Interestingly, these marine mammals have a relatively small throat than their stomach and body size. Because of this, baleen whales tend to stick to a diet that consists of small, easily consumable prey. Baleen whales are known to consume a variety of small fish, krill, squid, and crustaceans and will avoid prey that is too large to swallow easily.
Given their large size, these marine mammals eat vast quantities of food. Therefore, baleen whales are often found in areas where high quantities of krill and other small digestible ocean animals can be found as they require a constant supply of prey to stay healthy and thrive in the ocean. The blue whale, for example, can consume up to 8,000 lbs. of krill per day.
On the other hand, some baleen whale species have been known to fast for several months while migrating as they live primarily off of their blubber supply until they reach their target destination.
Other features
As mentioned earlier, cetaceans can vary greatly in size, from Maui’s dolphin, which can measure in at as little as 4 ft. long to the blue whale, exceeding 90 ft. To swim, these marine mammals have a tail with flukes that allow them to propel themselves through the water by moving their flukes up and down. They also possess a pair of flippers that help them navigate and turn, role, rise, and dive in the water.
The size and shape of the flippers are different for various cetaceans. The humpback whale, for instance, has enormous, long flippers that can measure 1/3 of its entire body, while the bowhead whale has relatively short paddle-shaped flippers compared to the rest of its body.
Some cetaceans (not all) possess a dorsal fin located on the mid to lower back, assisting with stabilization when swimming. The killer whale, for example, has a large dorsal fin that is either pointed or curved depending on the pod it belongs to.
On the other hand, the beluga whale completely lacks a dorsal fin, and the humpback whale has a large hump on its back rather than a dorsal fin.
Although these marine mammals can vary in shape, they are typically thickest in the belly region and taper down towards the head and flukes, but species such as the sperm whale are known for their large block-shaped head can make up a large portion of their overall size.
In terms of color, most whales appear to be black, brown, bluish, dark gray, gray, light grey, and/or white in color, with rare cetaceans such as the amazon river dolphin having a pinkish skin tone.
Some species may also appear a certain color when swimming underwater and appear a variation of that color when at the surface. The blue whale, for example, appears to be closer to a grayish blue rather than a deep blue color when at the surface of the water; however, when it dives, the light distortion of the water gives this whale its deep blue appearance.
Echolocation and Navigation
When it comes to navigating the ocean, whether to search for food or avoid collision with nearby objects in dark areas, the toothed whale suborder can navigate the ocean and hunt for food using echolocation.
Echolocation allows these whales to create sounds and determine the distance, size, density, and speed of objects in the areas by interpreting the echo’s frequency and measuring the time it takes for the emitted sounds to come back to them.
Aside from being used to locate prey and avoid collision with nearby obstacles, echolocation also allows cetaceans to coordinate attacks with one another when searching for prey. It allows them to identify where their team is and what they are doing.
It also toothed whales keep track of the location of specific pod members as they swim below the ocean’s surface or travel in groups, which can be especially important when a mother, for example, wants to keep track of her child.
While previously thought to be exclusive among the toothed whale species, recent research suggests that echolocation may also be present in some baleen whale species. However, the extent and capabilities of echolocation among baleen whales remain unknown.
Intelligence
Whales are one of the most intelligent animals on earth. Although it is difficult to calculate and determine what exactly is intelligence when it comes to other animals, marine biologists and scientists have studied whale intelligence for decades and have learned a lot about their hunting methods, social structure, breeding habits, and various other indicators related to what most people would consider social, survival and individual intelligence.
For example, studies of certain whale pods have shown that whales have the ability to develop a social hierarchy, play games together, teach each other survival strategies and hunt in cohesive, well-organized groups.
From a social perspective, whales have a very developed and structured language to communicate various wants and/or needs to other whales.
Whales can communicate their desires such as wanting to play or an interest in mating, hunting strategies, and the location of potential prey and warn other pod members of nearby threats such as sharks or killer whales and communicate other important aspects of their lives.
In fact, certain groups of cetaceans have even been compared to that of human culture because whales can show signs of self-recognition and leadership and develop a culture-like society among their pods.
Some whale species have been known to show an interest and desire to meet people and approach their boats to understand what’s going on. Smaller species such as the beluga whale, bottlenose dolphin, and killer whale can be found at aquariums performing tricks and playing with their trainers.
When it comes to cetaceans that have developed close relationships with family and friends, these marine mammals can be seen protecting one another from predators and other potential threats. Not only do they show intellectual abilities, but they also show deep emotions in their ability to connect with others, mourn the death and celebrate vitality.
While much can be learned about the whale species simply by following them and observing their day-to-day life, some of our understanding about their intellectual capacity remains difficult to research and study due to the large size of many whale species.
Because of the massive size of numerous whale species, much of our understanding of whale intelligence comes from dolphins and porpoises and more commonly known whale species that can be observed and researched from a distance.
Marine biologists and scientists have been working with dolphins and porpoises for many years and have learned a lot from these amazing animals.
Through decades of spending time with dolphins and porpoises, we have learned that dolphins are capable of self-recognition, can learn, memorize and perform complex tasks, and understand complex commands given to them by their trainers. The military has also trained dolphins to locate bombs and find missing people lost at sea.
Even in their natural habitat, dolphins show amazing cognitive abilities. They have been observed protecting people who were being attacked by sharks and helping people find their way back to land without being trained to do so.
Numerous reports by diving researchers have been made stating that some whales swam very gently when near the diver not to harm them. The divers reported this being a conscious effort on the whale’s part as they believe the whales were very caring and deliberate in their behavior.
Migration
Whales as a whole inhabit the entire world’s oceans and have an estimated annual growth rate of 5 – 15 percent. It is currently estimated that there are over 80 different cetacean species in existence today. While there are currently well over a million whales living throughout the world’s oceans, it isn’t easy to estimate their total population accurately.
When it comes to migration whales, have two primary seasons (except a few species), known as feeding season and mating season. Depending on their location and the time of the year, these marine mammals will migrate between the cold and warm climates during these two seasons.
During feeding months (the colder months of the year), whales will travel to their local feeding grounds and spend their time consuming as much prey as possible.
Depending on the type of whale and where they live, their diet can range greatly from small prey such as krill, squid, and fish to marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, and even other cetaceans.
The types of food a cetacean eats aren’t necessarily determined by its size, either. For example, the gray whale often eats small crustaceans and sea sediment, while the killer whale will attack and eat larger prey such as seals and other marine mammals.
During mating months (the warmer months of the year), these marine mammals will travel to their mating grounds. Some whale species will forgo eating altogether, fasting, and living strictly off body fat from their calories during the feeding season.
Some whales can be very competitive during this time of the year and may even charge other male whales or horde female whales away in an attempt to mate and bear offspring with the female.
Males whales such as the humpback will also communicate by creating loud, low-pitched melodic tones (known as whale songs) and display their fitness and health by doing acrobatic stunts such as breaching the water and tail slapping, which also helps show off their dominance and attract a female.
Breeding
The average gestation period can vary greatly for whales, ranging between 10 and 17 months, depending on the species. In many cases, whales don’t maintain fixed partners. They can mate with several other whales over their lifetime (or even during a single mating season) to maximize their chances of reproducing offspring. On average, a female whale will bear a single offspring once every 2 – 6 years while it is fertile.
The female will feed her young by producing thick milk (about 35-50% fat) from her mammary glands and shoot it through the water and into her baby’s mouth to feed the newborn whale. The thickness of the milk allows it to travel through the water without breaking up and contains vital nutrients for the baby whale.
Some baby whales may also use their mouth/tongue as a seal to help prevent the milk from traveling through the water to ensure that they are receiving important food and nutrients.
The nursing/milking period for baby whales can be maintained for over a year if necessary. However, the range can vary greatly from 6 months all the way up to two years depending on the species and the child’s physical/psychological dependency on its mother’s milk and nurturing personality.
In the context of a group or family, male whales are often referred to as bulls, females are called cows, and babies are commonly known as calves.
When it comes to lifespan, the average lifespan of a whale can range from 20 – 200 years, depending on the whale’s species, overall health, social life, and environment.
Whale Beaching’s
Every year as many as 2000 whales end up beaching themselves and dying. While many beached whales end up stranded on a beach or sandy environment, a whale can end up beaching itself anyplace where the ocean meets land. Most beachings are generally caused by sickness, a loss of direction, an injury, or a deceased whale brought in by the tide.
As a whale ends up stranding itself on land, it eventually dies due to dehydration, difficulty breathing (whales are extremely heavy and may be crushed by their own weight), or drowning caused by the high tides when the water rises above the whale’s head preventing it from breathing through its blowhole.
As stated earlier, though, not all stranded whales are alive when they end up beached. Some whales may have already died before being brought to land and were carried in by the wind and tide. Since thousands of whales die annually, a certain percentage of dead whales are likely to end up pulled ashore by the current and beached.
In most cases, these deceased whales end up decomposing to the point that their body eventually sinks to the bottom of the ocean where other aquatic species can feed on it and thrive.
In shallow waters, deceased whales are generally eaten over a relatively short period of time (over the course of a few months) by other species and scavengers. In deep waters, however, a deceased whale’s corps may end up providing various aquatic species with their own ecosystem, which can last for several decades.
As technology advances and humans take to the ocean with more sophisticated technology, marine biologists show growing concerns about the possible causes of recent whale beachings. Some of these causes are considered natural and/or normal. Other “possible” causes are contributed to the creation of human-made ambient sounds and technology such as large boats and ships.
While it remains too soon to tell if human-made technology is at fault for any of the teachings, it has raised some important questions, which, if found true, will help improve the understanding and use of technology to prevent further incidents involving technology that can cause whale beachings.
Possible causes of whale beaching’s
- Collisions with human-made technology (boats, ships, submarines, and other human-made aquatic machinery)
- Water pollution (gas, oil, waste, and poisonous chemicals)
- Noise pollution (Sonar, boat engines, explosives, and loud aircraft)
- Natural causes (collisions with large rocks, sickness, pneumonia, and natural diseases)
- Predator attacks (attacks from sharks and/or killer whales)
- Attacks from or consuming poisonous species (although this may occur it is less likely than several of the other causes)
- Changes in the earth magnetic field (may affect echolocation)
- Global warming (melting icebergs and dying food supplies)
- Misguided by a leader whale that ended up beaching itself (following an injured or sick whale towards land)
- Quick changes in sea depth where the water suddenly becomes shallow, causing the whale to get stuck on land (certain areas may be shallow and then quickly fall off into deep waters)
Evolution
As a species, whales have evolved over the course of millions of years from land-dwelling animals to inhabitants of the sea. Before whales lived in the ocean, they (actually their ancestors) walked and hunted on land.
Several characteristics point to the ancestral origin of whales, including the need to breathe air (unlike fish that have gills) despite living exclusively in the ocean, bones in their flippers which resemble limbs that were once used for walking and hunting on land, and the vertical shape of their spines (more likely designed for running rather than swimming) as opposed the horizontal design and movement of fish.
Previous excavations have also dug up evidence of the whale’s evolutionary and physiological changes. Ancestral bones show progressive cycles of change and transformation as whales moved from traveling on land to swimming in the oceans.
Cetacea/Shark Prey Relationship
Although whales are massive creatures, they aren’t known for hunting or praying upon sharks. In fact, most whale species consume a diet consisting of fish, krill, cephalopods, and other small sea creatures. This is mainly because most whale species aren’t equipped to hunt and kill sharks easily or even possibly.
This is due either to a lack of teeth not possessing the necessary teeth/anatomical features needed for hunting/attacking sharks and/or a social structure that is not designed for hunting sharks. With that said, one species that has been known to attack and kill sharks successfully is the killer whale. In fact, these large marine mammals have been known to hunt and kill sharks and marine birds, seals, sea lions, otters, polar bears, and large whales.
Killer whales have several characteristics that make them deadly adversaries against sharks and other forms of prey. These dolphins have large sharp teeth that make it easy for them to tear apart flesh. They also hunt in well-organized groups using team-oriented hunting methods to isolate, immobilize and capture their prey.
By hunting in groups, these dolphins can tire their prey out, keep them from escaping and defend themselves from being attacked. Killer whales are also very fast and silent, allowing them to sneak up on their prey and attack them at the last moment.
In addition to their hunting methods and social structure, killer whales have a highly developed echolocation system that allows them to observe their surroundings using sound, which allows them to navigate the ocean, even in pitch-black environments, easily.
Echolocation allows killer whales to detect the speed, direction, size, density, elevation, and type of object they observe to understand better the food they are hunting and develop a strategy for capturing their prey.
As stated earlier, although killer whales are known to attack and kill sharks, it doesn’t seem to be a common behavior. Killer whales may attack sharks when other forms of food are unavailable or in areas where sharks may be fairly abundant and somewhat defenseless.
When it comes to other whale species, they may not hunt sharks, but they have been known to defend their young from potential shark attacks. In these cases, a whale or group of whales may use their massive size to block the sharks from attacking their children and may lunge at or attack the sharks to defend themselves.
While it may help deter a shark from attacking a small child, it is unlikely that a shark will be killed from this sort of self-defense. It is possible that charging, lunging, fin slapping, tail slapping, or breaching may stun the shark or cause bodily injury, which can provide the whales with enough time to escape or scare the shark into giving up.
In rare cases, a defensive behavior may actually kill the shark either due to suffocation or significant injuries/shock. The techniques a whale uses and the amount of effort they put into defending themselves against sharks may depend on the whale’s species, pod size, social structure, or individual size.
Humans and Whales
Believe it or not, humans and whales didn’t always get along. Before the 20th-century, whales were frequently hunted for their meat and blubber, which was sold and used to make various materials that could be warned, eaten, and/or used in other products.
In fact, it wasn’t until the mid 20th century that whales stopped being hunted (in most countries) due to the possibility of extinction and a growing concern of numerous whale populations by various government agencies and conservation organizations.
For centuries whales were hunted for their raw materials. Food, clothing, tools, transmission oil, and various other materials we’re commonly made from the whale, blubber, meat, and bone. Oil played an especially significant role during the whaling era. Margarine, lamps, candle wax, transmission, and even machine parts benefited from the use of whale oil.
This oily substance was extracted from the whale’s blubber or, in the case of the sperm whale, from the whale’s spermaceti organ, which is located in its head.
Regarding sperm whales, whalers would obtain the sperm whales’ oil, extracting it from the whale’s head cavities. The whale’s blubber would be cooked to extract its oil from other species. Over the decades, the creation of alternative resources and the creation of organizations, and a new perspective on whaling led to the decline of the commercial whaling business.
Groups such as the International Whaling Commission created new policies to protect whales, and governmental/non-governmental organizations were created to monitor and police whaling to ensure that whales weren’t unnecessarily killed or overhunted.
However, even with the many efforts to protect the species, a few countries hunt them today for food and raw materials.
Decades of whaling and pollution have caused many whale species to become endangered. A few have even become extinct or unable to reproduce fast enough to ensure the survival of their species. Nowadays, many individuals and groups are playing catch up to protect as many endangered species as possible.
Whale Watching and Other Activities
Today, the perception of whales has changed drastically. In the 1900’s a new hobby known as whale watching began to grow as spectators around the world gathered to observe various whale species in their natural habitat. Cameras in hand, people would line up to get a chance to watch whales living their lives in their natural habitat.
To prevent harming whales, boats and observational areas play a large role in allowing spectators to watch these marine mammals without causing much interference. Rules are also put into place to prevent people from getting too close to whales not to impact their natural state of well-being.
Due to the popularity of this new activity, whale watching has become a billion-dollar business, employing thousands of workers and creating economic growth for both cities and states worldwide. In addition to whale watching, whales and dolphins have also played major roles in many recent films and t.v. Shows that have been produced such as:
Popular Whale T.V. Shows and Movies
- Whale Wars
- Blue Whale Odyssey
- Big Miracle
- Free Willy
Popular Whale Books
- Moby Dick
- The Year Of The Whale
- Whale Nation
- In The Heart Of The Sea
Mythology
Over the centuries, various mythical whales have been passed down in mythology and religion and continue to live on today. In fact, whales have been inhibiting this earth for millions of years. They have existed well into the B.C. era, where haunting tales of vicious sea creatures attacking boats and eating people can be seen etched into stone and walls or, in some cases, have remained the surviving stories of old folk lure tales.
References in religion have also shared stories of humans being swallowed and attacked by whales. However, despite all this talk about whales attacking humans, many species remain fairly friendly in our presence.
There have been no known or recorded cases of whales ever eating people and/or swallowing humans, and only in rare cases has a human been attacked and/or killed by any cetacean. In fact, if you look at attacks made on humans by these marine mammals, it would be not easy to find any real evidence of them being the types of animals you hear about in mythology.
With that said, there are a few stories of killer whales held in captivity grabbing hold of a person’s limb, hair, or clothing and pulling them under the water until they drown, but these stories are rare, and in no cases, we’re anybody parts ever consumed.
In regards to most other dolphin species, attacks on humans are also rare, and in many cases, dolphins are relatively friendly towards people. In fact, dolphins have been observed helping people get back to shore when lost at sea and have even defended people against shark attacks.
Dolphins tend only to attack humans when they have had previous experiences of abuse from one or several humans and have learned to fear people or be protective when around humans or when they feel isolated from their habitat or friends/family for extended periods of time.
Even though whales and dolphins are generally known as being friendly, you should never approach them in the wild or even in captivity without the aid and supervision of an expert trainer. For more information on this topic, check out: Whales in Mythology.
Threats Towards Humans
While whales are capable of attacking humans, the likelihood that they actually would is low. Whales are generally solitary, slow-moving marine animals that aren’t usually aggressive unless they are provoked, threatened, or frightened.
Because whales possess massive bodies, their large size helps defend them against most predators that don’t have the energy, strength, or ability to successfully hunt and kill them, so most large whales rarely have anything to worry about.
In fact, there may only be a handful of cases in history where a whale attacked a human. However, it is likely that these attacks probably occurred as a form of self-defense or because the whale was frightened.
These potential attacks likely involved a whale hitting a boat or large aquatic vehicle, not particularity targeting a human but potentially the large object that may have appeared threatening to them. It is also possible that whales may have occasionally attacked whaling boats or became aggressive towards the whalers that hunted them; however, little information confirming this exists.
In some instances, a whale may accidentally come into close contact with a human or a boat while hunting for food or breaching the water. In fact, several cases in recent years have seen whales leaping out of the water only feet apart from a human as it is attempting to capture its prey. There have also been several cases where a large whale landed on a boat while breaching the water.
While these instances do occur from time to time, whale attacks are so rare that it is hard to find any substantial documented cases of whales attacking humans, even when searching for records online.
And even if a whale were to attempt to swallow a human, almost all species have throats that are way too small to swallow large animals (such as people) successfully.
Protecting the whales
When it comes to protecting the whale species, several things can be done to improve their lives. Educating more people about the current condition of numerous whale species will help people make more conscious efforts and decisions regarding how they treat marine mammals and their environment.
One of the best ways people can help in their own homes to save whales is to recycle as much plastic as possible that might otherwise end up in the ocean. This may include cutting up any pieces of plastic that might cause problems with the internal digestion of the whale.
For example, just cutting up the plastic rings that once held a six-pack of soda together reduces the possibility that a ring might harm the whale if the animal accidentally consumes some garbage.
Also, easy steps are taken to recycle garbage and put less waste into the environment to help to keep the oceans clean for future generations of whales, since a large amount of trash and rubbish that isn’t recycled does end up in the oceans to pollute vast bodies of water.
Minimizing the number of harmful chemicals that are flushed down the drain or disposed of improperly can reduce habitat degradation and help prevent runoff into otherwise clean bodies of water.
All recycling and conservation efforts on land are valuable projects for keeping the oceans clean for future generations of whales. Individuals can also adopt a whale or take part in conservation groups aimed at helping to improve the lives of marine mammals.
In countries where whale/dolphin products are being used and/or sold, you can make sure that you avoid buying/using these products. In some cases, dolphin meat has been seen as an alternative for tuna. By making yourself and those around you more informed, you take a better stance towards improving the lives of marine mammals everywhere.