The blue whale (blue whale, or vomit) is the largest animal on the planet. Since the blue whale breathes with its lungs and feeds its children with milk, it is a mammal, not a fish. There are only three species - dwarf, northern and southern blue whales, which differ slightly from each other.

Anatomy of a blue whale

The blue whale, like all mammals, breathes exclusively through the lungs. Of the senses, blue whales have very developed hearing and touch. The blue whale, which is the largest living creature on planet Earth, has the same amazing size internal organs- for example, one language adult can weigh more than 4 tons! The pulse of whales is very low - 5-10 beats per minute, and the heart weighs a ton! This is an absolute record among all living beings. A whale can reach up to 33 meters in length, and an adult weighs approximately 150 tons! In blue whales, females are larger than males.

Species: Blue whale

Genus: Stripes

Family: Striped

Class: Mammals

Order: Cetaceans

Type: Chordata

Kingdom: Animals

Domain: Eukaryotes

Blue whales have very large heads and long, slender bodies. On the back of the head there is a blowhole, which is formed by the animal’s two nostrils. On the lower part of the blue whale's head there are stripes that are formed from the folds of the skin. They help the whale stretch its throat when it opens its mouth to swallow food. At this moment, the whale's mouth can stretch 1.5 times! In total, blue whales can have from 55 to 90 such folds.

Where does the blue whale live?

The blue whale is cosmopolitan. This means that its habitat extends to the entire world ocean, but somewhere due to cold currents the whale cannot be all year round and migrates, but somewhere he is quite comfortable constantly - for example, in Indian Ocean. They are most often seen in Ceylon. A large number of people are sure that there are no best place for blue whale watching than in Sri Lanka.

What does the blue whale eat?

The blue whale's favorite food is krill (large aggregations of crustaceans) and plankton. The whale does not eat fish at all, even if it does consume it by accident, it is only along with a large amount of plankton and krill. He eats simply by opening his huge mouth and swimming forward, taking in water with food, and then the water flows out through the whalebone.

Blue whale lifestyle

Unlike other whale species, the blue whale can be called a solitary whale. Sometimes some individuals form small groups, but usually they stay alone. The blue whale prefers to lead a diurnal lifestyle - numerous studies show this.

Reproduction of blue whales

Reproduction is a sore subject for the blue whale. It reproduces its offspring extremely slowly, so slowly that some scientists are inclined to think that the increase in the birth rate of blue whales is not able to cover their mortality. The increase in blue whale individuals is the slowest of all whales. The blue whale is monogamous. The male, having found his female, protects her and never moves away from her. The female can become pregnant once every two years, after which she carries the cub for another year.

The cub is born weighing about 2 - 3 tons and 6-9 meters long. It feeds on mother's milk for about 7 months. Sexual maturity is reached at approximately 10 years of age. At 15 years old, the blue whale is already fully formed physically and gains its weight and body length. Whales live quite a long time - approximately 90 years.

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This article is dedicated to amazing and unusual animals, which some still consider to be fish - cetaceans. Why be surprised if even in children's fairy tales such a phrase as “fish-whale” sounds! “Cetaceans” (from the Latin word Cetacea) are a fairly large order of mammals that have evolved and adapted exclusively for life in water.

Order Cetaceans and its representatives

The body structure of cetaceans is very similar to that of fish. IN Everyday life All these animals are usually called whales. The exception to the order under consideration is the family of porpoises and dolphins. Scientific Latin name of this order - "cetus". Russian word“Whale” comes from Greek and literally means “sea monster.”

In general, cetaceans are the largest animals of all the animals that live on our planet. As for the origin of these creatures, it is believed that they descended from artiodactyls land mammals, who were able to subsequently adapt to a semi-terrestrial - semi-aquatic lifestyle about fifty million years ago. IN modern world There is a wide variety of these fish-like marine animals.

The blue whale is the most big whale, the largest living animal, and also probably the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth.

The entire large order of cetaceans is usually divided into two suborders: toothed whales (Odontoceti) and toothless or otherwise baleen whales (Mysticeti). Representatives of these suborders differ significantly from each other not only in their appearance, way of life, but also in their internal structure.

The order Cetacea unites thirty-eight genera, which include more than eight dozen species of marine mammals. About thirty species of cetaceans can be found in Russia. In order for you to get your bearings a little, to understand what these animals are and who belongs to the cetaceans, let's look at their accepted classification:

• Suborder Odontoceti - Odontoceti divided by:

— Family Delphinidae — Dolphinidae is quite numerous and includes killer whales, white-sided dolphins, bottlenose dolphins;

Bottlenose dolphin (or bottlenose dolphin) with calf

- Family Phocoenidae - Porpoises includes four species of porpoises, the finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) and the white-winged porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli);

- Family Monodontidae - Narwhals includes the beluga whale (Delphina pterusleucas) and the unicorn (Monodon) which includes the narwhal (Monodon monoceros);

Narwhal

Beluga whales

— Family Physeteridae — Sperm whales. This family includes the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus);

- Family Kogiidae - Dwarf sperm whales. Sometimes this family is referred to as the sperm whale family. It includes the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) and the little sperm whale (Kogia simus);

Sperm whale

- Superfamily Platanistoidea - River dolphins includes the Family Iniidae, which in turn includes the Amazonian dolphin (Inia geoffrensis);

— Family Platanistidae. The Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica) belongs to this Family. This species is sometimes divided into two subspecies;

— The family Pontoporiidae is represented by the La Plata dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei);

— Family Lipotidae. It includes Chinese river dolphin(Lipotes vexillifer);

Amazon river dolphin

- Family Ziphidae - Beaked. It includes swimmers or otherwise Berardius - only two species, bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon), also two species, belted whales (Mesoplodon) - fourteen species, longman's whale (Indopacetus pacificus), beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) and Tasmanian beaked whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi ).

Beaked whale

• Suborder Mysticeti - Toothless whales divided by:

— Family Balaenidae — Right whales. It includes three species of southern right whale (Eubalaena) and the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus);

— Family Eschrichtiidae — Gray whales, which actually includes the gray whale itself (Eschrichtius robustus);

- Family Balaenopteridae - Minke whales includes the subfamily Balaenopterinae, which includes eight species of minke whales and the subfamily Megapterinae, which includes the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae);

- Family Neobalaenidae, which includes a single representative - the dwarf right whale (Caperea marginata).

Humpback whale

Appearance and lifestyle of animals that make up the order Cetaceans

As you yourself already understood, the cetacean order is a very large order, which includes dozens of species different representatives these sea animals. They are all significantly different from each other, however, they have a lot in common. The most common and prominent representatives We have known this squad since childhood. After all, it is not at all necessary to be an expert in order to distinguish, for example, a whale from a dolphin.

The smallest cetaceans are Hector's dolphin and the white-bellied dolphin. The length of these “babies” is a maximum of 120 cm, but they weigh only 40 – 45 kg. The largest cetacean is the blue whale. The body length of this giant can reach as much as 33 meters, and its weight can be more than 150 tons! Despite all the differences between cetaceans and fish, they are united by certain similarities in appearance, in habitat, in lifestyle, and much more. Outwardly, these animals are very similar to fish, but differ primarily in that they are warm-blooded and breathe with lungs rather than gills. Their body temperature ranges from 36 to 40 C.

Great killer whale

The peculiarities of the respiratory and circulatory systems allow them to continuously stay under water, once making a supply of air, for up to an hour and a half! The skin of cetaceans, unlike most fish, is devoid of scales and contains remains hairline(vibrissae). The structure of their bodies is streamlined, which allows them to experience the least friction, and therefore water resistance when swimming. This is also facilitated by their smooth, firm and elastic skin, completely devoid of hair. The color of numerous species of cetaceans varies from solid to spotted or counter-shaded (dark back and light belly). In some species it may change with age.

Like land mammals, the young of animals from the order Cetaceans do not develop in external environment, and in utero and after birth they are fed milk. Most species are herd (collective) animals and therefore gather in groups of several tens, hundreds and even thousands of individuals. Cetaceans are distributed throughout the world, they can be found in all oceans and in most seas. Among them there are heat-loving species, i.e. tropical and subtropical, cold-loving species of polar and subpolar waters, as well as species with a wide habitat.

Gangetic river dolphins

Cetaceans are found both in the open sea and very close to the coasts. Some species can even enter rivers and live there for a long time. Some species of these mammals are characterized by seasonal migrations over short distances, others by long migrations covering many thousands of kilometers, and still others prefer an almost sedentary or nomadic lifestyle within a small water area, that is, “not far from home.”

According to the method and nature of feeding, cetaceans are divided into four groups:

• ichthyophages - species that feed mainly on fish;

• planktivores - species that are characterized by feeding on plankton;

• saprophages - species that feed on decaying organic remains and substances;

• Teutophagous - species that consume various cephalopods.

Thus, nutrition different types Cetaceans are not distinguished by gastronomic diversity and are very specialized, however, among the representatives of the genus in question, there is only one that periodically and regularly feeds not only on fish and, but also on warm-blooded creatures, such as seals, birds, and even their own kind. This species is the killer whale.

Great killer whale

Cetaceans live relatively long: small species - up to thirty years, large ones - up to about fifty.

It must be said that the animals that make up the order Cetaceans are not only numerous, but also very diverse, unusual and interesting, and therefore deserve attention. These articles will tell you about some species of marine mammals:

Which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Whales breathe air using their lungs, are warm-blooded, feed their young with milk from their mammary glands, and have some (albeit fairly minor) hair. The body is spindle-shaped, like the streamlined body of a fish. The fins, sometimes also called flippers, have a lobe-like appearance. At the end of the tail there is a standing fin in the form of a crest, which plays the role of a stabilizer and provides forward movement due to vertical movements.

The body of cetaceans is covered with smooth, shiny skin that facilitates gliding in the water. The head is very large and wide. The neck is so shortened that outwardly the boundary between the head and the body is not noticeable. There are no external ears, but there is an auditory canal, which opens through a small hole in the skin and leads to the eardrum. The eyes are very small, adapted to life in the sea. They are able to withstand high pressure when immersing an animal on greater depth, large, fatty tears are secreted from the tear ducts, which help you see more clearly in the water and protect your eyes from the effects of salt. The nostrils - one (in toothed whales) or two (in baleen whales) - are located at the top of the head and form a blowhole. In cetaceans, unlike other mammals, the lungs are not connected to the oral cavity. The animal inhales air, rising to the surface of the water. Its blood is capable of absorbing more oxygen than that of land mammals. Before diving into the water, the lungs are filled with air, which, while the whale remains under water, is heated and saturated with moisture. When the animal floats to the surface, the air it exhales forcefully, in contact with the cold outside, forms a column of condensed steam - the so-called fountain.

The order Cetacea is divided into two well-differentiated suborders: baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti). These suborders differ from each other in both morphological characteristics and behavior.

Baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti) got their name because of the so-called long horny plates. whalebone, located in their mouth instead of teeth.

The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is considered one of the oldest mammals - the age of the species is about 30 million years. The length of the female does not exceed 15 meters, and the male - 14.6 meters. The mass of this whale is 20-35 tons. The gray whale usually has a smooth belly, with only 2-4 deep grooves on the throat, diverging backwards at a slight angle. On the back, instead of a fin, there is a faintly visible hump. The head is small, 4.5-5 times shorter than the body length, compressed laterally. There are two regularly migratory populations of gray whales: the Okhotsk-Korean and the Chukchi-California. The first is almost exterminated; winters and breeds near Korea and Southern Japan, and fattens in the summer in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The second winters off the coast of the California Peninsula, and in the summer fattens in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, occasionally penetrating into the East Siberian Sea to Nolde Bay and east to Cape Barrow.

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest animal that has 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 bluish-gray with silver-gray spots irregular shape. The belly is sometimes yellowish due to microscopic algae clinging to it. It feeds on planktonic crustaceans, absorbing up to a ton of food for each “meal”. The blue whale is distributed from the Chukchi Sea, Greenland, Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya to the ice of Antarctica. Winters in warm waters: in the northern hemisphere - at the latitudes of Southern Japan, Taiwan, California, Mexico, North Africa, the Caribbean Sea; in the southern hemisphere - at the latitudes of Australia, Peru, Ecuador, South Africa, Madagascar. The blue whale spends its summer in the waters of the Antarctic, North Atlantic, Bering and Chukchi Seas. The blue whale is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The humpback whale, or humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), is a large animal with a dense, shortened body; the back and sides are blackish, and the belly color varies from black or mottled to white. Maximum length approximately 15 meters. An individual 14 meters long can weigh over 40 tons. Humpback whales can be found in all oceans. Its herds migrate with the changing seasons and depending on the amount of food, spending the winter in tropical waters. Feeds on planktonic crustaceans and small fish. Humpback whales often jump completely out of the water in an upright position and fall back with a deafening splash. However, this species is especially famous for the extensive repertoire of sounds it makes, “Humpback”; it was nicknamed by whalers for the way it arches its back while “singing.”

The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), also called the herring whale, is a large animal with a wedge-shaped head, a long slim body and a high dorsal fin, moved far back. The body is grayish-brown above and white below. The species is distributed in all oceans and migrates in herds ranging from a few to more than 100 individuals. Migrations are seasonal: the fin whale spends the summer in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the winter in more warm seas. It feeds mainly on planktonic crustaceans, less often on schooling fish, such as herring.

The sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) is less slender than the fin whale, its body is relatively thicker, its pectoral fins are shorter, and the dorsal fin is larger and more strongly pushed forward - towards the beginning of the rear third of the animal's body. The color of the back is dark gray, the sides are slightly light, and on the belly it is variable, varying from gray to partially white (but the entire underside is never white, like the fin whale). The sei whale is as widespread as the fin whale, but in the Arctic and Antarctic it usually avoids ice, appears there later than large species of minke whales, and is less regular in its migrations. The sei whale is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is very similar in white belly and body shape to fin whale calves, but appears thicker and has different body proportions (its length is 5-5.5 times its maximum thickness). Clearly distinguished by white, low (no higher than 25 centimeters) whisker plates, 270-330 in each row. The minke whale is distributed from the ice of the Arctic to the ice of the Antarctic. Most rare in tropical zone. The species is listed in the International Red Book.

The bowhead or polar whale (Balaena mysticetus) reaches a size of 21 meters and a weight of up to 150 tons. Its huge head occupies a third of the body and is separated from the body by a clearly visible neck. The general coloration of adults is dark, sometimes with a white throat; in immatures it is grayish-dark. The skin on the body is smooth, without horny growths and bumps, and is not overgrown with barnacle shells. Inhabited in high latitudes Arctic, the bowhead whale has excellent navigation among floating ice and is capable of punching holes with its back in ice 20-30 centimeters thick. Once upon a time, there were three herds in the circumpolar range: Svalbard, West Greenland and Bering-Chukchi. At present, the first two herds have been almost completely exterminated, and the third has survived only in negligible quantities. Whales stay solitary and only very rarely gather several individuals together. Their main food is tiny calanus crustaceans (3-4 millimeters), and sometimes pteropods. The bowhead whale is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The southern whale (Eubalaena glacialis) differs from the bowhead whale in its smaller head, which occupies about 1/4 of the body length and is not separated by a cervical interception, a more complex bend of the oral slit (in the form of the Latin letter “S”, laid on its side) and the presence of a snout at the top one or more horny growths. The body color is usually entirely black, or, less commonly, white on the belly and sides, or piebald. These whales are common in temperate waters.

Three subspecies of the southern whale are known: Biscay (E.g. glacialis), living in the North Atlantic, Japanese (E.g. japonica) from the northern part Pacific Ocean and Australian (E.g. australis) from the Southern Hemisphere. Some zoologists consider them to be separate species. The number of all three is very small due to centuries of barbaric fishing. The southern whale is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The pygmy whale (Neobalaena marginata) is the smallest and rarest of the baleen whales. It does not exceed 6 meters in length. The lifestyle of this rare whale has not been studied, the total number is unknown. Lives alone, mainly in the waters surrounding southern Australia and New Zealand, and apparently does not migrate far.

The suborder of toothed whales (Odontoceti) includes 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 an unpaired nostril.

The sperm whale (Physeter catodon) is the largest toothed whale: males reach 20 meters and females reach 15 meters. It is capable of diving to a depth of over 1.5 kilometers, remaining there for an hour, and then emerging without, apparently, experiencing any special overloads. The head, constituting a third of the total body length, is blunt in front and can be used as a huge battering ram; in the past, wooden whaling ships were damaged by such attacks. The long (5.5 meters) but narrow lower jaw bears from 8 to 36 pairs of strong conical teeth, each of which weighs approximately 1 kilogram. There are no more than 1-3 pairs of them on the upper jaw, and they are non-functional. The sperm whale can be recognized by its short, wide fountain directed forward and upward. Its main food is squid and cuttlefish, which it catches at the bottom using its long jaws. Adult sperm whales consume up to a ton of food per day. Animals migrate in herds of thousands.

Males are distributed over a larger area than females, migrate further than females, and in the summer in the north they reach the Davis Strait, the Barents and Bering Seas, and in the south - Antarctica. Females live in harems, breed in the tropics and rarely venture outside subtropical zone. In Russian waters, male sperm whales are most often found near the Kuril Ridge, in the southern parts of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, near the Commander Islands and Kamchatka, but are rare in the Sea of ​​Japan; in summer they reach the southern parts of the Gulf of Anadyr.

The dwarf sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) differs from the “simple” sperm whale by its small head, which is rounded in front compared to the body. 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 about 4 meters, weight is approximately 400 kilograms. The lower jaw is narrow, with 8-16 narrow, pointed teeth on each side. This species also dives to great depths and hunts there for squid and cuttlefish. Dwarf sperm whales live in the warm zone of the ocean and are very rare. Singles come north to the coasts of Holland, France, the Nova Scotia Peninsula, Japan, Washington State, and south to the island of Tasmania, New Zealand, Imperial Bay (Chile) and the Cape of Good Hope.

The beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is characterized by a white or yellowish color; This species does not have a dorsal fin. Each side of the upper jaw bears 10, and the lower - 8 teeth. With them, the whale grabs and holds food, consisting of squid and fish. Adult males reach a length of 3.5-5 meters with an average weight of 900 kilograms, although in some individuals it exceeds 1500 kilograms; females are somewhat smaller.

The beluga whale is distributed in all seas of the Arctic and in the adjacent basins - the Bering and Okhotsk seas. In very severe winters it descends south to the shores of Japan, Great Britain, Massachusetts, and even enters the Baltic. There are three subspecies of beluga whales in Russian waters - the White Sea, Kara and Far Eastern.

The narwhal, or unicorn (Monodon monoceros), has an unusual feature - a long (up to 3 meters) ivory-colored tusk, twisted clockwise and protruding forward from the left half of the upper jaw. The body length of a mature narwhal is 3.5-4.5 meters. The coloration of adult individuals is dark, with numerous yellowish-white spots, but old whales can be almost white. The muzzle is rounded; no dorsal fin. Narwhals are inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean and the northern part of the Atlantic, although there are cases when they swam to the shores of England and Holland. The narwhal is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The belt teeth (Mesoplodon) reach an average length of 4.5-6.5 meters. The snout is elongated into a tapering, rounded beak. The head is small, narrow; the dorsal fin is small, moved far back. One of distinctive features- a pair of grooves on the throat. Belly teeth lead a more or less solitary lifestyle. They are often found in warm waters of both hemispheres. Their main food is squid and cuttlefish.

The beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) does not exceed 8 meters in length. Unlike other species, it has a short and conical beak, a low and sloping “forehead”, and a short mouth opening. The body color is variable, but gray predominates, becoming lighter on the belly and (in older individuals) on the head. White irregular spots ranging from 2 to 5-8 centimeters in diameter and long stripes are scattered throughout the body. The beaked whale is distributed in all temperate and warm waters of the world's oceans, from the latitude of the Shetland and Pribilof Islands to South Africa, Patagonia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, but is not numerous everywhere. Listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

Tasman's beaked whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi) received 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 about 90 functional teeth, of which the two front ones on the lower jaw are bulbous. Currently, there are 8 known finds of this whale (6 in the areas of New Zealand, 1 in the waters of Argentina and 1 in Chile). This rarest species families with almost unstudied biology.
The species is listed in the International Red Book.

The northern swimmer (Berardius bairdi) reaches a body length of up to 12.5 meters in females and up to 11 meters in males. The mass of the northern floater is 8-10 tons. The small head has a characteristic high spherical “forehead” and a highly elongated cylindrical beak. The upper jaw in the beak area is slightly narrower and shorter than the lower jaw, on which there are two pairs of strongly flattened (conical only in young individuals) teeth.
The body color is dark brown, barely lighter at the bottom, sometimes with white markings. These whales live in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean from Cape Navarin, the Alaska Peninsula and British Columbia to the latitude of Southern Japan and California. They occur in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and near the Kuril Islands, less often in the Sea of ​​Japan and the Bering Sea. The main food of swimmers is cephalopods, as well as bottom fish (rays and their eggs, sea ruffes, podonems, cod), crabs and large crayfish. The northern swimmer is listed in the International Red Book.

The high-browed bottlenose (Hyperoodon ampullatus) is commonly found in the North Atlantic from the Davis Strait, Greenland and Barents Seas, to the latitude of North West Africa and the mid-USA. Found in the Mediterranean Sea, rare in the Baltic and White Seas. The size of males is up to 9.4 meters, females - up to 8.7 meters. The color is more or less uniform, somewhat lighter with age, especially on the head. The snout in front of the high “forehead” tapers pointedly. The “forehead” increases with age and descends vertically, and sometimes even overhanging, to the base of the beak. Bottlenose snakes live in flocks. In their diet and behavior they resemble the northern swimmer, which is replaced in the North Atlantic. Listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

A closely related species, the flat-faced bottlenose (Hyperoodon planifrons), is distributed in the southern hemisphere from the ice of Antarctica, South Georgia, South Orkney and Falkland Islands to the latitude of Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. Its jaw ridges and "forehead" are lower and its beak is shorter than that of the high-browed bottlenose. Listed in the International Red Book.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Cetaceans are animals that live in water.

Habitat

Cetaceans live widely in the waters of the World Ocean.

Appearance

All cetaceans are warm-blooded and have pulmonary respiration. The body has a streamlined appearance, smooth skin, with virtually no hair. The head smoothly blends into the body itself, without much emphasis on the neck. And the body also smoothly flows into the tail, which ends with a large fin.

blue whale photo

Some species have a fin on their back that provides stability when swimming. The forelimbs are flippers. Outwardly they resemble fish, but differ from them in the absence of gills. The average body length is approximately 25 meters. Weight on average 100-120 tons.

Vision and smell are weak, but the sense of touch is well developed.

Lifestyle

Herd animal. Different kinds lead their own special way of life. For example, gray whales move from California, where they prefer to winter, to the Bering Sea, to feeding grounds. Thus, they swim approximately 12,000 km per year.

narwhals photos

Other species lead a sedentary lifestyle and move only over a small area in search of food. As a result of the peculiarities of the development of respiratory and circulatory system able for a long time be underwater. This time reaches one and a half hours.

killer whale photo

Sociable animals constantly communicate with each other using sounds that have their own meaning for each individual.

Nutrition

They feed on fish and invertebrates, plankton. Cetaceans such as killer whales also eat warm-blooded animals, such as birds, seals, and other whales.

Reproduction

Pregnancy lasts for 7-18 months. This significant interval depends on the cetacean species. The baby is carried in utero. Moreover, at the beginning of pregnancy the female bears two, and sometimes three, fetuses. At the time of birth, only one fetus remains. In exceptional and extremely rare cases there are two.

bottlenose dolphin photo

The baby is born underwater. It emerges from the female with its tail first. He definitely needs to take his first breath, his mother helps him rise to the surface of the water. Newborns are quite large in size, reaching a quarter and sometimes half the length of the female. From the first minutes of life he is capable of independent movement.

beaked whale photo

Swims next to his mother. Due to the presence of a hydrodynamic field around her, the cub is able to move passively, without making much effort. The female feeds the child with her milk.

• Whales are the largest animals ever to live on earth.
• It is believed that cetaceans descended from artiodactyl terrestrial mammals, which about 50 million years ago switched to a semi-aquatic lifestyle.
• In the recent past, almost all whale organs were used in industrial and domestic sectors. For example, fat was boiled from subcutaneous lard, from which margarine, lubricants for various applications, soap and other products were then prepared. After polyremization of the fat, linoleum and paint were made from it. The bones, muscles and parts of the entrails, after digestion, were used as fertilizer. Whalebone was used to make springs, bases for fans and umbrellas, and corsets for underwear. Due to widespread fishing and large catches, their numbers have sharply decreased.
• Currently, almost all species of cetaceans are listed in the Red Book.