Species of Whales & Their Lives

Whales are mammals, that live in water. There are 88 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises, there called “cetaceans” [si-tey-shuh n] which means marine mammal.There are two types of whale’s baleen and toothed. Baleen whales are whales that don’t have teeth but a kind of strainer that hangs on the top of the roof of their mouths. It lets water through but traps the tasty things like krill and other small shrimp like fish. Toothed whales are whales that instead of baleen they have teeth.Whales also have a unique and different tale sleuth, NO two are the same, there just like fingerprints.

The largest whale is the Blue whale, it can grow up to 30m in length, it weighs 180 metric tons (180000Kg). WOW! The average age for killer whales is around 29 years, humpback whales have 45-50 years, sperm whales 60-70 years, but the Blue whale can live 80-110years! That’s great considering the average for humans is around 82 years. What could you do in 90minutes? Well the Sperm whale stays underwater for 90minutes, but for other whales that’s too long, other whale’s can only stay underwater for 19-20 minutes. They can also dive up to 1000 feet (304.8m). OMG that’s far!

Whaling

The practice of industry of hunting and killing whales for their oil, meat, or whalebone. Before whaling was band in most parts of the world, three species of whales were almost hunted to extinction. Blue whales were put onto the protected species list in 1966, but later put onto the endangered species in 1986.The blue whales have grown quite a bit, from then. Scientists say there are about 10,000 -25,000 remaining in the wild today. Humpback whales were also on the endangered list with only 1,500. Humpback whales have slowly increased to around 15,000 meaning they are still endangered.

The most endangered species of whales is, the North Atlantic right whale, they only had 500, left before the ban, these whales also mature very slowly and only give birth every 3-5 years. Places like Japan, Norway and Iceland have not yet stopped hunting whales, they kill 1,500 a year. Whaling became banned in the late 1986.

Feeding Whales can eat up to 1.5tons (1500Kg) that’s like 8000 cheeseburgers.Food for whales can vary, depending on what kind of whale it is, baleen whales or toothed. Baleen whales eat things like:

• Small fish
• Shrimp
• Plankton
• Crab
• Krill

Toothed whales eat things like:

• Squid
• Sea lion
• Walrus
• Earless seal
• Sea bird
• Shark

Most whales feed individually but sometimes they can also use team work to get their food, like group bubble net feeding.

Group bubble net feeding

Group bubble net feeding is a feeding technique, whales like to use to catch small fish. The group bubble net feeding starts off with a synchronised dive, some whales go underneath the school of fish, so they can bring them up to the surface. Then the bubble specialists, blows a big wall of bubbles surrounding the fish like a net. Then the designated vocaliser begins making an almost defining sound, terrifying the fish making them come up to the surface. Then after all that, they have an absolute feast! Breeding Female whales are pregnant for one year, and when they give birth the calf is around 3.75- 4.5m long. After the calf is born they stay with their mother for a year or so, the mothers teach the young ones, about the world, how to migrate thousands of miles, who to trust and who to fear and what to eat and where to find it.

And migrating All whales can migrate very far, they can migrate up to 10,000Km annually, that’s Sydney, Australia to New Delhi.

The blue circle is New Delhi.The black dot it where Sydney is.The red lines are the whale’s travels.

How to help and protect whales

Whales are killed every day, from lots of different ways like:

• Whaling
• Boats; when a ship/boat bumps into the whale, the effects are often fatal and the number of ships in the water have almost doubled since whaling has stopped
• They beach them selves.

That is just some of the few common reasons why. We can help whales by, slowing down all ships and avoid the migratory trails, as a community try and persuade places like japan, Norway or Iceland to stop whaling and make it a law and keep the ocean clean.You know when you’re down, and upset well whales feel that to, some say whales beach themselves because they feel suicidal, but that could just be a myth not yet proven. Try and make a difference not just for you, but for the whole ocean.