Why are whales interesting? What do whales hear?
Sea monster - this is how the word “whale” is translated from Greek. This amazing animal is the largest among mammals, and its descendants lived on land. Hunting whales is prohibited by law, but their extermination does not stop. Why is this ocean inhabitant so valuable?
What kind of animal is this?
Whales are warm-blooded mammals that breathe with air and feed their young with milk. Their closest relative that still exists is the hippopotamus. The ancestors were artiodactyl animals, but about 50 million years ago, whales exchanged land for the deep sea.
Not all whales eat the same; depending on the way they feed, they are divided into 2 orders:
- toothed;
- mustachioed.
There was a third species - the ancients, but there are currently no representatives of this genus left.
Toothed ones hunt large prey: fish and squid. This species includes dolphins, sperm whales, and porpoises. But baleen whales don’t have teeth; they filter plankton, strain water, and thus get the food they need. It is among the baleen species that the largest specimens are found.
In the first millennium AD. The hunt for these mammals began. Initially, people were interested in valuable fat, which was used as fuel and raw materials. In addition, whalebone was actively used for sewing clothes, creating accessories and stuffing furniture. In the 20th century, animal meat was also appreciated. I especially liked the whale sausage. Insulin was made from the glands and brain, and vitamin A was obtained from the liver. Of course, active fishing affected the animal population and by 1931 restrictions on fishing were introduced. But poachers are still catching and killing whales for sale.
Amazing facts about whales prove that they are one of the most interesting animals.
- The whale's brain never sleeps completely. One of the halves is definitely awake. This allows you to rise to the surface at any time.
- Animals can go without sleep for up to 100 days and go without food for 8 months.
- Whales do not have vocal cords, but they are capable of singing, and do so for 6 to 40 minutes.
- Movement of the tail allows them to move. This distinguishes them from fish, which swim using fins.
- The largest whales are blue ones. Males are on average about 20 meters in length, and females are even larger. Individuals up to 30 meters in length have been repeatedly recorded.
A blue whale measuring 33.58 meters long and weighing over 150 tons was caught off the South Shetland Islands. This is one of the largest giants ever caught.
Huge lungs allow the animal not to breathe for up to 2 hours, although they are usually limited to 10-40 minute dives. At the same time, they are capable of going under water for 2 kilometers. This is how toothed whales dive when they are chasing prey. The baleen representatives do not dive that far; they find plankton at a depth of about 100 meters.
Interestingly, within a group, singing whales perform the same melody, and if they meet another pod, they are able to learn the melody of strangers.
Varieties
There are quite a lot of inhabitants of the ocean, which are classified as whales, and each of them has its own characteristics.
- One of the most interesting representatives is the blue whale. This huge animal feeds on plankton and belongs to the baleen order. There are southern, northern and dwarf blue whales. They are constantly at risk of extinction. In the mid-20th century, there were about 5 thousand individuals worldwide, but now this figure has increased.
- Beluga is a toothed whale. Weighing up to 2 tons and up to 6 meters long, this not the largest representative of cetaceans is well known to people, since it is constantly found in dolphinariums and aquariums. Has excellent hearing and has the ability to echolocation.
- The humpback whale has a very unusual appearance. A fin has grown on its back that resembles a hump, and there are leathery protrusions on its head. On average 13-14 meters long and weighing 30 tons, but rare individuals grow up to 18 meters. Found in all oceans except the Arctic and Antarctic.
- The gray whale chooses a special diet - food from the bottom of the ocean. To do this, it has a keel under its lower jaw, with which it plows the silt or filters it through the whalebone. During migration, it can swim 12-19 thousand kilometers.
- The bowhead whale lives for 40 years. It is found in the very north and often has to make its way by breaking ice floes. It has all the capabilities for this: weight up to 1.5 tons and length up to 20-22 meters. To maintain strength, he has to eat 1.8 tons of plankton every day.
- It is impossible to confuse a sperm whale with another whale. Its appearance is special: 35% of the body length is a rectangular head. There are 20-26 pairs of teeth on the lower jaw and only 1-3 on the lower jaw, each of which weighs up to 1 kilogram. They are able to chew not only marine life, such as a small shark, but also garbage that they find in the water.
- Fin whales are the second largest in size. Their length does not reach 30 meters. But they are so slender that they weigh only 40-70 tons. Their lower jaw is painted in 2 shades: the right one is light, and the left one is dark.
- Killer whales are also cetaceans. They have a bright appearance and are distinguished by a special character: they live in packs and are very active, unlike their relatives. Their speed and agility make them extremely dangerous predators.
Interesting! The weight of a blue whale's tongue is 4 tons. The same weight as an adult elephant.
There are dozens of species of whales, of which river dolphins deserve special attention. These representatives of toothed whales live in the rivers of India, China, as well as in the tropical rivers of South America.
- Amazonian inia is up to 2.5 meters long and weighs up to 207 kilograms. Very slow, if necessary, reaches speeds of up to 22 km/h, but usually moves no faster than 1.5-3.2 km/h. The elongated muzzle resembles a beak. Has up to 66 pairs of very sharp teeth. The dolphin becomes lighter in color as it ages, so another name for the animal is white river dolphin.
The natives do not hunt rime. One of the reasons is the legend according to which this dolphin is an evil sorceress who lures and leads young men into the depths of the water.
- Another river dolphin lives in the Ganges and Indus - the susuk. It has a slender body about 2-2.5 meters long, no dorsal fin and an elongated snout. Due to living in muddy water, the animal’s eyes no longer perform visual function. With its help, the dolphin senses touch and can only perceive the direction of light. Every 35-40 seconds the dolphin is forced to rise to the surface to breathe air.
- The Laplata dolphin can live both in the river and in the sea. The smallest of the river dolphins. Females are about 150 centimeters long and males are slightly larger. There are approximately 240 teeth in its jaws. Habitat: rivers of Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina. These dolphins are very quiet and secretive, making them difficult to observe in the wild.
- Chinese lake dolphin. They learned about them only at the beginning of the 20th century, and at the beginning of the 21st they announced the extinction of this species. It has a gray back, and the color turns white towards its belly. They weigh about 170 kilograms and are up to 2.5 meters long. The dorsal fin sticks out of the water like a flag when they swim near the surface.
Whales are amazing not only in size and power. Here are some more facts about these animals:
- No two whale tails are alike.
- The fountain, which is ejected to the surface up to 6 meters in height, is condensed air that arises due to the difference in temperature of the water in the animal’s mouth and on the surface.
- A whale egg is comparable in size to a mouse egg. But the babies of some of the whales already weigh 3 tons at the time of birth, having a length of up to 8 meters.
Whales have no external ears, fairly poor eyesight, and no sense of smell. But, nevertheless, they rely on hearing. Resonance from the lower jaw goes to the middle and inner ear. Some whales in captivity have learned to imitate human speech.
Whales are the largest (the weight of an adult can exceed 150 tons), the longest (approximately 30-35 meters in length).
Photos of whales cannot leave anyone indifferent.
The tongue of a blue whale weighs 4 tons. That's about that much. how much does an elephant weigh? For example: if people want to climb this tongue, then at the same time 50 of them will satisfy their desire.
Already in ancient times it was known that these are mammals. They are warm-blooded and air-breathing. These heaviest mammals have, albeit very tiny, fur. They feed their young with milk. These are facts known to everyone.
Whales can go without sleep for 100 days. They can live without food for 8 months. The hardiest ones - up to 10 months.
Scientists believe that all cetaceans are apparently secondary aquatic: their ancestors once, about 50 million years ago, emerged from ocean waters, but in the process of evolution returned to the abyss of the oceans.
Pregnancy in females lasts 11 months. Baby whales are born about 8 meters long and weigh 2-3 tons. The most interesting thing is that the whale egg is no larger in size than the egg of a simple field mouse.
For the first six months of life, the baby whale feeds on its mother’s milk. Every day the cub consumes approximately 350-390 liters of milk. At half a year old, the miracle baby reaches a size of 15 meters and a weight of about 20-25 tons.
The blood of cetaceans absorbs more oxygen than the blood of other mammals.
The oral cavity of cetaceans is not connected to the lungs. They inhale air as they rise to the surface of the ocean: their lungs are saturated with oxygen, which subsequently, under water, is saturated with moisture and warms up. At the moment when the animals emerge, they exhale and the hot air, in contact with the cold, forms a magnificent fountain of condensed steam.
A whale inhales 2000 liters of air in 1 second.
Blows out a fountain up to 6 meters high!
The largest whale is blue. For some reason, on several resources on the Internet I was “lucky” to come across the phrase “blue whale”. But this is so, a digression from the topic.
Interestingly, the “blue” females are larger than the males.
The heart of a blue whale is the biggest heart in the world! It is comparable in size to a car and weighs approximately 600 or 700 kg.
A whale has 8,000 liters of blood, and the diameter of the vessels is approximately the same as the diameter of a water bucket.
A whale can not breathe for about 2 hours and during this time cover a colossal distance under water!
“The most caloric” - 8 million calories per day - that’s how much one whale can absorb in one day. And it feeds mainly on krill. A ton of krill a day. Plus everything and everyone who gets into the mouth along with small crustaceans (krill).
Very small eyes, adapted to life at sea, are able to withstand high pressure when the animal dives to great depths; large, fatty tears are secreted from the tear ducts, helping to see more clearly in the water and protecting the eyes from the effects of salt. Whales do not have external ears; they hear through their lower jaw. From it, sound travels through a special cavity to the middle and inner ear. Whales constantly listen because they have no sense of smell and poor vision. Sound gives whales the ability to navigate, communicate with each other and feed, although the exact purpose of the sounds produced by whales has not yet been clarified. Whales suffer greatly from the noise in the world's oceans that people make.
Of all the mammals, only humans and whales sing songs.
The most talkative and singing whales are white ones. People affectionately call them "sea canaries" for their wide range of cooing and chirping sounds.
The songs of whales are drawn-out and sonorous. The shortest aria lasts about 6 minutes. However, if no one bothers you to sing, the whale’s song can last for 30-40 minutes. Despite the fact that whales do not have vocal cords.
Quite interesting is the subspecies called the fin whale. These giants live in families of 5-8 individuals, and during migration, fin whales unite in groups of 200-250 individuals. The fin whale is perhaps the fastest of marine mammals. Its speed of movement at the moment of danger can exceed 45 km/h. The fin whale can dive to a depth of 250 meters and stay there for 15 minutes. Fin whales can also produce sounds of such low frequency that the human ear is simply unable to catch them.
A whale's tail is as individual as a person's fingerprints. It is impossible to meet two identical tails.
Scars and grooves, cuts, and spots of brown algae “paint” uniquely identifying “graffiti” on whale tails.
- The most-most... The longest, heaviest, and loudest animals on our planet are whales. They are the ones with the biggest brains. Their length reaches 33 m, weight up to 150 tons. They make the longest and most distant migrations. Some of them may not sleep for three months and “fast” for two thirds of the year.
- The largest whale ever caught was a female caught off the South Scottish Islands. Its length from the fork of the caudal fin to the end of the snout was 33.27 m, and its weight was 176,792 kg.
- The blue whale is without a doubt the largest animal that has ever existed on our planet. The weight of an adult whale can be more than twice the weight of Brachiosaurus, the largest of the ancient dinosaurs (81,500 kg), and about thirty times the weight of a male African elephant.
- The blue whale's head is so wide that a full professional football team - about 50 people - can stand on its tongue. His heart is as big as a small car (Volkswagen Beetle). The heart of large blue whales weighs 600-700 kg, it needs to pump about 8 thousand liters of blood. The diameter of the dorsal aorta reaches the diameter of a bucket, and the lungs can hold up to 14 m3 of air. In one or two seconds, a whale inhales and exhales about 2000 liters of air. They dive with ease to great depths. If necessary, blue whales can remain underwater without breathing for 40 minutes. When a whale is about to dive, sometimes to a depth of over 1000 m, it stands upside down vertically in the water, so that only one caudal fin rises above the surface. It looks like a sail. Whales do not have external ears. Instead, they receive sound through their lower jaw. Sound is conducted from the jaw through the socket to the middle and inner ears.
- An adult blue whale consumes about a million calories a day, which equates to 1 ton of krill, the small, shrimp-like crustacean that forms the bulk of its diet.
- The blue whale is accustomed to roaming the world's oceans, traveling alone, occasionally in pairs, and can live up to 120 years. Whales are the only mammal other than humans that... sing. Many of them make low cooing sounds, and humpback and right whales sing “songs” - a series of different sounds repeated in a certain sequence. At first it was believed that only males sing, but there is evidence that females sing songs to their babies.
- Pregnancy lasts about 11 months. The calf is born 7.6 m long and weighs 2-3 tons, although the egg of a female blue whale is the same in size as that of a mouse. During the day he gains 80-100 kg in weight and 2-3 cm in length, drinking approximately 380 liters of mother's milk. Females feed them milk for about 7 months. During this period, the cub grows up to 16 m and has a mass of 23 tons. Over 7 months of feeding, the female’s mammary glands secrete so much milk that its amount is equal to the weight of her own body.
- Baleen are horny plates on the upper jaw of toothless whales (up to 800 pieces), which were and are used in the manufacture of corsets and various pads to maintain the shape of clothing. A Baroque corset required a whole kilogram of whalebone. This material was in such demand that in Holland in 1772 a company was founded that supplied whalebone to all European countries.
- Whales easily distinguish each other in a school. But for a person this is a difficult task, because he sees them only for moments. How can you learn to identify whales so that you can follow them? Scientists believe: by tails. Biologists have discovered that whale tails are as individual as human fingerprints. Cuts and grooves are easily visible on them, scars from killer whale bites, and spots of brown algae create a unique pattern.
- Once upon a time, blue whales roamed all the oceans of the world; and it is estimated that in Antarctica alone there were up to 250,000 of these creatures. However, in recent years, ruthless fishing has left less than 1% of the above figure. It is very difficult to determine the total number of these huge animals, so the size of the Antarctic blue whale population, according to modern estimates, ranges from several hundred to 11,000. But whatever the exact figure, it in any case appears dangerously low compared to previously existing numbers.
Now you know more :)
Whales can stay awake for three months if necessary.
And if they fall asleep, then only at a shallow depth near the surface of the water. Their weight, due to the high content of light adipose tissue in the body, slightly exceeds the specific gravity of water. Therefore, the sleeping whale sinks down very slowly. From time to time, the animal hits its tail in its sleep and rises to the surface. Then, after inhaling air, it slowly and passively sinks until the next blow with its tail.
Here's some more interesting information about whales:
Whales are amazing creatures. Their ancestors appeared on Earth 55 million years ago - long before the appearance of the first man.
Despite the fact that whale hunting is prohibited by the laws of many countries, their destruction does not stop. For Russia, this problem is especially relevant - the seas of our country are home to dozens of species of whales, dolphins, and seals, many of which are endangered.
Whales are the largest animals in the world
On average, the length of a whale is from 22 to 27 meters, with females larger than males. The largest whale was caught in 1926: its length was 33 meters, and the animal weighed at least 150 tons. It is believed that blue whales were somewhat crushed as a result of predatory fishing, but in the past, when blue whales were more numerous, individuals up to 37 meters in length were found among them.
It is known that the average whale weighs as much as 2,700 people. The animal’s heart is the size of a car and weighs 600-700 k, and 8 thousand liters of blood are pumped through the whale’s vessels with the diameter of a water bucket. In addition, the blue whale is capable of producing the loudest sound of all living creatures - other whales are able to hear its low frequencies at a distance of more than 16,000 km.
Whales “hear” with their throats
Whales do not have traditional animal hearing organs - external ears. They hear through the lower jaw, from which sound travels to the middle and inner ear.
Since whales have poor eyesight and no sense of smell, hearing is the main sense for them, which helps them navigate underwater, communicate and get food. Therefore, ships and other noise made by people in the world's oceans cause a lot of inconvenience to whales.
Source:
A whale eats a million calories a day
For 8 months of the year, whales eat almost nothing and survive on accumulated fat. However, all summer they feed almost non-stop, absorbing up to three tons of food per day. The whale's diet mainly consists of algae and small crustaceans. Sometimes whales snack on small fish.
Whale tails are unique
Whale tails can be compared to human fingerprints. The furrow cuts, along with scars and patches of brown algae, create unique patterns on whales' tails.
Whales and hippos shared common ancestors
The distant ancestors of whales were land animals that walked on four legs. Then they went to the ocean in search of more accessible and plentiful food. At first, the ancestors of whales - Pakicetus - hunted fish in shallow waters and returned to the shore to rest. But competition forced the animals to swim further and further into the depths of the ancient ocean, and the opportunity to return to land disappeared.
Molecular genetic data indicate that cetaceans are close relatives of artiodactyls, in particular hippopotamuses.
Whales breathe air
The blue whale inhales and exhales 1-4 times per minute when at rest, but can go without oxygen for two hours. Young whales breathe much more frequently than adults.
Whales inhale and exhale very quickly - almost simultaneously - due to the special structure of the respiratory tract. In 1 second, a blue whale inhales approximately 2 thousand liters of air; in total, the lungs of this giant can hold up to 14 cubic meters of air. While underwater, the blowhole was tightly closed with a valve.
Whale milk has a consistency similar to toothpaste
A baby whale can reach 9 meters in length at birth. Mother's milk contains up to 50% fat, while it is rich in protein. Fat and protein make up half the weight of milk, making it very thick. During the day, the cub receives up to 90 liters of milk. By the age of one and a half years, it grows to 20 m in length and 45-50 tons of weight.
People believed that you could live in the stomach of a whale
In the old days there were many legends about how shipwrecked people were swallowed by whales and traveled for many months in the stomach of these animals.
In fact, they wouldn't even be able to get through the throat opening. The fact is that the diameter of a blue whale's pharynx does not exceed its navel (that is, the size of a saucer) or is slightly smaller than its eardrum (about the size of a small plate).
The only species of whale that a person can crawl into its throat is the sperm whale. However, its stomach is so acidic that it is simply impossible to survive in the belly of a whale.
Whales are talking
Whales that live in captivity for a long time can imitate human speech. For a long time this was considered a myth, but then scientists conducted an experiment on the beluga. The animal was trained to “speak” on command, put on a harness made of sensors and found out that the whale imitates human “speech” by sharply increasing the pressure in its nasal cavities and causing the phonic lips to vibrate - special formations in the nasopharynx, with the help of which many cetaceans make sounds .
Whales are amazing animals. These are the largest creatures on the planet and, despite their gigantic size, one of the most harmless. Cases of their attacks on people are extremely rare; this mainly happens when a ship accidentally floats on an animal. We have collected the most interesting information about these creatures!
Whales can stay awake for months
If necessary, whales can easily go without sleep for three months. Well, they sleep almost on the surface of the water. The body of a whale has a high content of light adipose tissue, so the weight of the animal slightly exceeds the specific gravity of water. So a sleeping whale slowly sinks to the depths, and after a while hits its tail in its sleep, after which it rises to the surface again. Here, after inhaling air, the animal again begins to slowly descend deeper. Until the next tail swipe.
The whale is the largest animal on the planet
The largest whales are blue ones. And they are probably the largest creatures that have ever inhabited the planet.
On average, the length of a whale is from 22 to 27 meters, females are always larger than males. The largest known whale was caught in 1926; it reached a length of 33 meters, and the weight of the animal was 150 tons. Some scientists believe that whales used to be even larger; they simply became smaller due to whaling. So, there is some evidence that among blue whales there were real giants up to 37 meters.
The weight of a whale's heart alone is 600-700 kg, and its vessels are about the diameter of a bucket. About 8 thousand liters of blood flow through these arteries.
What sounds do whales make?
No other living creature on our planet can make a sound as loud as a whale. The call of one of the representatives at low frequencies can be heard by whales at a distance of more than 16 thousand kilometers.
How do whales hear?
Whales do not have external ears, but listen through their throats. And to be more precise, the lower jaw. From it, sound penetrates to the middle and inner throat.
Whales also have very poor eyesight and no sense of smell, so hearing is the only way to navigate the ocean and get food. Therefore, ships and other external noise caused by humans cause enormous inconvenience to whales.
How much does a whale eat?
Whales consume an incredible amount of calories: they eat about three tons of food per day. The main “dishes” are small crustaceans and algae, sometimes small fish and squid. True, they eat only in the summer, and for about 8 months a year they eat practically nothing; they survive due to accumulated fat. And, as a result, in the summer, whales simply eat all day long, devouring everything in their path.
Whale tails are like fingerprints
Whales do not have fingers, but these animals have tails instead. The fact is that each whale has its own unique tail with a unique pattern, and this uniqueness is formed by furrows, brown algae stains and scars.
The closest relatives of whales are hippos
The hypothesis states that the ancestors of whales lived on land and walked on four legs. However, during the course of evolution, they descended into the ocean in search of food. At first they simply hunted fish in the water and went ashore to rest, but due to competition with other animals, the ancestors of whales had to go further and further. So they remained to live in the ocean. This happened about 50 million years ago.
All cetaceans (including dolphins) are descendants of artiodactyls. Well, the closest relative of the whale is the hippopotamus. They descended from a single ancestor who lived on the planet 54 million years ago.
How whales breathe
Whales can go without oxygen for up to two hours, but the animal typically inhales between one and four times per minute. Their respiratory tract is designed in such a way that inhalation and exhalation occur very quickly: for example, a blue whale inhales 2000 liters of air per second. When animals are in the water, the blowhole closes with a valve.
What kind of milk do whales have?
Everyone knows that whales are mammals and feed their young with breast milk. For a long time, scientists only speculated how this could happen, but a couple of years ago, environmentalists managed to film a baby feeding. Whale mother's milk is very thick and has a consistency similar to toothpaste. It is rich in protein and the fat content is 50%. The cub receives about 90 liters of milk from the mother per day; on average, feeding lasts 7 months. So how does this happen?
The fact is that females have nipples covered with a layer of skin, thanks to which they easily glide through the water. Babies do not have flexible lips with which they can wrap around the nipple, like ordinary mammals. Therefore, feeding occurs as follows: the baby swims up to the mother, dives under her, and at the moment of this contact the mother bends her abdominal muscles and exposes her nipple, splashing milk into the baby’s mouth. Then the baby swims away from the mother, and then returns again, the process repeats. Amazing coherence and interaction!
At birth, the cub reaches approximately 9 meters in length, and by the age of one and a half years it grows to 20 meters and gains weight up to 45-50 tons.
Blue whales are monogamous
Whales are very social animals, they communicate with each other. It is reliably known that blue whales are monogamous animals, they form a married couple for a long time, and the male does not leave the female under any circumstances, they always stay close to each other.
People believed that you could live in the stomach of a whale
There used to be many legends that people could survive in the stomach of a whale. So, there is biblical confirmation of this: the prophet Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a whale. And also remember the fairy tale about Pinocchio and the famous Disney cartoon, where the woodworker Geppetto was swallowed by a whale.
People believed that after a shipwreck, if sailors were swallowed by a whale, they could live in its stomach for months. What a journey!
However, what is it really? A person simply cannot penetrate through the throat: it is the size of a small plate. But there are whales that can swallow a person whole, these are sperm whales. But their stomach has very high acidity, so it is impossible to survive there.
Whales can talk
And not only among themselves. Whales are capable of imitating human speech. For a long time they did not believe in this, but scientists conducted an experiment on the beluga. The mammal was trained to make sounds on command and sensors were attached to it. It turned out that the beluga “talks” in the following way: it sharply increases the pressure in the nasal cavities and thereby causes the phonic lips (formations in the nasopharynx, with the help of which cetaceans make sounds) to vibrate.