Whales are aquatic mammals which are divided into three suborders:
Baleen Whales: The Mysticeti.
Toothed Whales: The Odontoceti.
Extinct Whales: The Archaeoceti
Whales are warm blooded and maintain an average body temperature of about 96.8 degrees.
Whales have thick layers of blubber or fat that help the animal float and stay warm.
Whales have fins and flippers that give them stability while swimming. Some whales have short flippers and others have long ones.
The dorsal fins of whales vary in shape and size. The dorsal fin of a male orca is longer than that of a female. Not all whales have dorsal fins. Some whales have smooth backs while others have knobs and ridges down the middle of their backs.
The underside of a whale is usually lighter than it’s back. This is called counter shading. Counter shading makes it possible for a whale to sneak up on prey.
A common exclamation on spying a whale is thar she blows!
If all the whales in the world were to jump out of the ocean at once, global sea levels would momentarily fall by half an inch.
Some types of whale are:
Baird’s Beaked Whale, Cuvier’s Beaked Dolphin, Dall’s Porpoise. False Killer Whale, Killer Whale, Narwhal, Pilot Whale, Pygmy Sperm Whale, Risso’s Dolphin, Rough-tooth Whale, Yangtze River Dolphin, Blue Whale, Bowhead Whale, Bryde’s Whale, Fin Whale, Gray Whale, Humpback Whale, Minke Whale, Pygmy Right Whale, Right Whale, Sei Whale, Bottlenose Dolphin, Bottlenose Whale, Common Dolphin, Sperm Whale, Spinner Dolphin, White Whale (Beluga).
Southern Right whales have large white bumps that occur on the top of the head, along the eye and along the edges of the lower jaw. These bumps are called callosities. The shape of the callosites located on the head are unique for each individual.
The list of Extinct Whales has not been completed. Little research has been done on extinct whales until recent years, therefore, this will be a very challenging project.