m. indica" in the Northern Indian Ocean, and "B. m." unnamed subsp. in the waters off Chile. The blue whale diet consists almost exclusively of euphausiids (krill). The blue whale was once abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the end of the 19th century. It was hunted almost to the point of extinction by whaling until the International Whaling Commission banned all hunting of blue whales in 1967. The International Whaling Commission catch database estimates that 382,595 blue whales were caught between 1868 and 1978. The global blue whale population abundance is estimated to be 10,000–25,000, roughly 3–11% of the population size estimated in 1911.
Introduction
Blue whale
Blue whale | Introduction
A maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 feet) and weight of 173 tonnes (190 tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 feet) and weight of 173 tonnes (190 tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. It can reach a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters and weight of 173 tonnes. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 feet) and weight of 173 tonnes (190 tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed.
who makes up most of the population of antarctica
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5,000 in the summer and much lesser in winter
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where did it get the name from?
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It is the romanised version of the Greek compound word "antarktiké" meaning "opposite to the Arctic", "opposite to the north"
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what kinds of animals can be seen there?
user
Some species of marine animals include penguins, blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals
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what sort of weather conditions it has?
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It is the coldest of Earth's continents.
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how big is the second marine animal mentioned?
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The largest of these, the blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus"), grows to long weighing 84 tonnes. Many of these species are migratory, and travel to tropical waters during the Antarctic winter.
Southern Ocean | Mammals
By comparison, the blue whale reaches in length.
Maraapunisaurus | Size
The blue whale is the largest known animal. In the International Whaling Commission (IWC) whaling database, 88 individuals longer than 30 m were reported, including one up to 33.0 m, but problems with how the measurements were made suggest that measurements longer than 30.5 m are somewhat suspect. The Discovery Committee reported lengths up to 102 ft (31.1 m); however, the longest scientifically measured (e.g., from rostrum tip to tail notch) individual blue whale was 98 ft (29.9 m). Female blue whales are larger than males. Hydrodynamic models suggest that a blue whale could not exceed 108 ft (33 m) due to metabolic and energy constraints.
Blue whale | Size
The blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus") is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whale suborder Mysticeti. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 feet) and weight of 173 tonnes (190 tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale’s long and slender body can be various shades of grayish-blue dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. There are currently five subspecies of blue whale, recognized by the Society for Marine Mammalogy’s Committee on Taxonomy: "B. m. musculus" in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, "B. m. intermedia" in the Southern Ocean, "B. m. brevicauda" (the pygmy blue whale) in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, "B.
Blue whale | Introduction
Antarctic males averaged 112 tons (224,000 lb) and females 130 tons (260,000 lb). Pygmy blue whale males average 83.5 (167,000 lb) and 99 tons (198,000 lb). The largest heart weight measured from a stranded North Atlantic blue whale was 0.1985 tons (397 lb), the largest known in any animal.
Blue whale | Size
The sei whale is the third-largest balaenopterid, after the blue whale (up to 180 tonnes, 200 tons) and the fin whale (up to 70 tonnes, 77 tons) but close to the humpback whale. In the North Pacific, adult males average and adult females , weighing 15 and 18.5 tonnes (16.5 and 20.5 tons), while in the North Atlantic adult males average and adult females , weighing 15.5 and 17 tonnes (17 and 18.5 tons) In the Southern Hemisphere, they average 14.5 (47.5 ft) and , respectively, weighing 17 and 18.5 tonnes (18.5 and 20.5 tons). ( In the Northern Hemisphere, males reach up to and females up to , while in the Southern Hemisphere males reach and females —the authenticity of an alleged female caught 50 miles northwest of St.
Sei whale | Description
The blue whale is the largest species of whale, and the largest species of animal known to have existed. Blue whale may also refer to:
Blue whale (disambiguation) | Introduction
The largest of these, the blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus"), grows to long weighing 84 tonnes. Many of these species are migratory, and travel to tropical waters during the Antarctic winter. Orcas, which do not migrate, nonetheless regularly travel to warmer waters, possibly to relieve the stress the temperature has on their skin.
Wildlife of Antarctica | Mammals
There remain only much smaller concentrations in the Eastern North Pacific (1,647), Central North Pacific (63–133), North Atlantic (1,000–2,000), Antarctic (2,280), New Zealand (718), Northern Indian Ocean (270) and Chile (570-760).
Blue whale | Introduction
The average length of sexually mature female blue whales is 72.1 ft (22.1 m) for Eastern North Pacific blue whales, 79 ft (24.1 m) for central and western North Pacific blue whales, 92 ft (28.1 m) for North Atlantic blue whales, 83.4–86.3 ft (25.4–26.6 m) for Antarctic blue whales, 77.1 ft (23.5 m) for Chilean blue whales, and 69.9 ft (21.3 m) for pygmy blue whales. In the Northern Hemisphere, males weigh an average 100 tons (200,000 lb) and females 112 tons (224,000 lb). Eastern North Pacific blue whale males average 88.5 tons (177,000 lb) and females 100 tons (200,000 lb).
Blue whale | Size
As the largest animal alive, the blue whale has the largest instance of several body parts.
Largest body part | Blue whale
These are narrow and approximately long, and are covered in very thin hairs. The plates enable the whale to filter feed. The penis on a right whale can be up to – the testes, at up to in length, in diameter, and weighing up to 525 kg (1157 lbs), are also by far the largest of any animal on Earth. The blue whale may be the largest animal on the planet, yet the testicles of the right whale are ten times the size of those of the blue whale. They also exceed predictions in terms of relative size, as well – they are six times larger than would be expected on the basis of body mass.
Right whale | Anatomy
It is the largest and the smallest types — the blue whale and Antarctic minke whale — that occupy the coldest waters in the extreme south; the fin whale tends not to approach so close to the ice shelf; the sei whale tends to stay further north again. (In the northern hemisphere, where the continents distort weather patterns and ocean currents, these movements are less obvious, although still present.) Within each species, the largest individuals tend to approach the poles more closely, while the youngest and fittest ones tend to stay in warmer waters before leaving on their annual migration.
Rorqual | Distribution and habitat
The flukes are about a quarter to a fifth of the body length in width.
Omura's whale | Morphometrics
However, in the period from 31 Ma ago (in the Oligocene) to the present, cetaceans underwent a significantly more rapid sustained increase in body mass (a rate of increase in "body mass" of a factor of 3.2 per million years) than achieved by any group of terrestrial mammals. This trend led to the largest animal of all time, the modern blue whale. Several reasons for the more rapid evolution of large body size in cetaceans are possible. Fewer biomechanical constraints on increases in body size may be associated with suspension in water as opposed to standing against the force of gravity, and with swimming movements as opposed to terrestrial locomotion.
Megafauna | In marine mammals
The fin whale ("Balaenoptera physalus"), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-largest species on Earth after the blue whale. The largest reportedly grow to long with a maximum confirmed length of , a maximum recorded weight of nearly , and a maximum estimated weight of around . American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale "the greyhound of the sea ... for its beautiful, slender body is built like a racing yacht and the animal can surpass the speed of the fastest ocean steamship." The fin whale's body is long and slender, coloured brownish-grey with a paler underside.
Fin whale | Introduction
Males of the species grow to about 11.5 mm long and 4 mm wide, with the first antenna being about 5.25 mm long. Females grow to 9.5 mm long and 4 mm wide with the first antenna 3.5 mm. Both sexes have four-segmented antennae, the endmost containing strong bristles. The body comprises multiple segments, each containing hooks used to attach itself to the whale.
Cyamus boopis | Description
Specimen measurements indicate that a blue whale measuring in length had a vestigial mammary slit of width and length, with a penis measurement of . In another specimen in which the length of the whale was and weighed 50.9 metric tons, the brain weighed only .
Blue whale penis | Scientific studies
Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have been unable to identify the species of the whale. They speculate that it could be malformed or a blue whale hybrid. The research team has been contacted by deaf people who believe the whale may be deaf.
52-hertz whale | Characteristics
The blue whale has the largest penis in the animal kingdom. It is commonly cited as having an average penis length of to and a diameter of to .
Blue whale penis | Introduction
During the Paleocene Epoch (about 66 - 55 million years ago), the ancient whale "Pakicetus" began pursuing an amphibious lifestyle in rivers or shallow seas. It was the ancestor of modern whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The cetacea are extensively adapted to marine life and cannot survive on land at all. Their adaptation can be seen in many unique physiognomic characteristics such as the dorsal blowhole, baleen teeth, and the cranial 'melon' organ used for aquatic echolocation. The closest extant terrestrial relative to the whale is the hippopotamus, which spends much of its time in the water and whose name literally means "horse of the river".
Secondarily aquatic tetrapods | Cetacea
The male is larger than the female by one third of his body size.
Blue iguana | Description
The tip of the penis, which tapers toward the end, is called the "pars intrapraeputialis" or "terminal cone". The blue whale has the largest penis of any organism on the planet, typically measuring . Accurate measurements of the blue whale are difficult to take because the whale's erect length can only be observed during mating. The penis on a right whale can be up to – the testes, at up to in length, in diameter, and weighing up to , are also the largest of any animal on Earth.
Baleen whale | Reproduction and development
A whale at the maximum known size of 79 feet would weigh in the range of 129.5 tonnes (143 tons). The shorter tail gives the pygmy blue whale more of a tadpole-like shape, and reflects in differences in diving behavior: whereas in the "true" blues, there is a delay between the submergence of the dorsal fin and the caudal peduncle; in pygmy blue whales, the dorsal and peduncle submerge simultaneously. Pygmy blue whales also tend to be darker than the other subspecies of blue whales, and the shape of their blowhole is different.
Pygmy blue whale | Physical characteristics
Whales have torpedo shaped bodies with non-flexible necks, limbs modified into flippers, non-existent external ear flaps, a large tail fin, and flat heads (with the exception of monodontids and ziphiids). Whale skulls have small eye orbits, long snouts (with the exception of monodontids and ziphiids) and eyes placed on the sides of its head. Whales range in size from the and dwarf sperm whale to the and blue whale. Overall, they tend to dwarf other cetartiodactyls; the blue whale is the largest creature on earth. Several species have female-biased sexual dimorphism, with the females being larger than the males. One exception is with the sperm whale, which has males larger than the females.
Whale | Anatomy
In August 2014, Te Papa received a second colossal squid, captured in early 2014. The specimen was also female, was long and weighed approximately .
Colossal squid | Second specimen
Since tetrapods (first reptiles, later mammals) returned to the sea in the Late Permian, they have dominated the top end of the marine body size range, due to the more efficient intake of oxygen possible using lungs. The ancestors of cetaceans are believed to have been the semiaquatic pakicetids, no larger than dogs, of about 53 million years (Ma) ago. By 40 Ma ago, cetaceans had attained a length of 20 m or more in "Basilosaurus", an elongated, serpentine whale that differed from modern whales in many respects and was not ancestral to them. Following this, the evolution of large body size in cetaceans appears to have come to a temporary halt, and then to have backtracked, although the available fossil records are limited.
Megafauna | In marine mammals
Unlike the dwarf minke, the dark gray between the eye and flipper does not extend unto the ventral grooves of the throat to form a "dark throat patch"; there is instead an irregularly shaped line running from about the level of the eye to the anterior insertion of the flipper, merging with the light gray of the shoulder patch. The longest baleen plates average in length and about in breadth and number 155 to 415 pairs (average 273). They are two-toned, with a dark gray outer margin on the posterior plates and a white outer margin on the anterior plates – though there may be some rows of dark plates amongst the white plates.
Antarctic minke whale | External appearance
After 14 months, she was released because she also grew too large to be cared for in the existing facilities. At and when she was released, J.J. was the largest marine mammal ever to be kept in captivity.
Gray whale | Captivity
It is thought this radiation was caused by global climate change and major tectonic activity when Antarctica and Australia separated from each other, creating the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Balaenopterids grew bigger during this time, with species like "Balaenoptera sibbaldina" perhaps rivaling the blue whale in terms of size, though other studies disagree that any baleen whale grew that large in the Miocene. The increase in size is likely due to shifts in climate that have resulted in seasonally shifting accumulations of plankton in various parts of the world, necessitating more efficiency traveling over long distances between widely distributed prey sources which also resulted in a lower metabolic rate, and feeding on baitballs.
Baleen whale | Evolutionary history
The blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus") is the largest animal that has ever lived, weighing up to at least 190 tonnes and measuring up to long. The largest extant terrestrial animal is the African bush elephant ("Loxodonta africana"), weighing up to 12.25 tonnes and measuring up to long. The largest terrestrial animals that ever lived were titanosaur sauropod dinosaurs such as "Argentinosaurus", which may have weighed as much as 73 tonnes. Several animals are microscopic; some Myxozoa (obligate parasites within the Cnidaria) never grow larger than 20 µm, and one of the smallest species ("Myxobolus shekel") is no more than 8.5 µm when fully grown.
Animal | Largest and smallest
According to observations made since the subspecies was first described in 1966, the pygmy blue whale differs from the "true" blue whales in a number of physical characteristics. It has: Pygmy blue whales reach sexual maturity at 10 years of age and a length of 19.2 meters (63 feet), weighing on average 52.5 tonnes (58 tons). As adults, males average 21.1 meters (69 feet) and females 21.9 meters (72 feet), with most probably between 20.7 and 22.5 meters (68 and 74 feet). The calculated average weight is 75.5 tonnes (83.5 tons) for males and 90 tonnes (99 tons) for females.
Pygmy blue whale | Physical characteristics
At physical maturity, females average and males . At sexual maturity, females average and males . Calves are estimated to be at birth.
Antarctic minke whale | Size
The fourth volume is devoted to marine mammals, which include the largest mammals on earth, the whales, as well as dolphins, ear seals, walrus, earless seals, dugongs, and manatees. It covers 19 families and the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behavior, and conservation status of 147 species. The 30 colour plates are created by Toni Llobet. Groups covered in this volume are: Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 614 pp.
Handbook of the Mammals of the World | Volume 4: "Sea Mammals" (published in July 2014)
In comparison to modern toothed whales, the hands and fingers were much longer. In the spinal column, the vertebrae (backbones) at the base of the tail formed a more rigid structure than in earlier cetaceans, while the lumbar region–consisting of vertebrae between the rib cage and pelvis—was very flexible. The height and width of the vertebral centra (bodies of the vertebrae) increase in height from the back of the chest to the basal part of the tail, with the second caudal (tail) vertebra being the tallest and broadest, indicating this region of the body experienced the most undulation when the animal was swimming.
Ankylorhiza | Description
Because the oceans are so large, it is very difficult to accurately gauge whale population sizes. Approximate figures:
Right whale | Range and habitat
They may forage the surface, underwater or even the ocean bottom. During courtship, males gather into large groups to compete for a single female, suggesting that sperm competition is an important factor in mating behavior. Although the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, the testes of the right whale are actually ten times larger than those of the blue whale – with each weighing up to , they are by far the largest of any animal on Earth. Gestation tends to last a year, and calves are born at in weight and in length. Weaning occurs after eight months.
Right whale | Introduction
The second stage introduces the "enrichment opportunists". These are animals which colonize the bones and surrounding sediments that have been contaminated with organic matter from the carcass and any other tissue left by the scavengers. This stage can last months up to 4.5 years.
Whale fall | Stage 2
The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale, with adult males measuring up to long and weighing up to . By contrast, the second largest toothed whale (Baird's beaked whale) measures and weighs up to . The sperm whale is among the most sexually dimorphic of all cetaceans. At birth both sexes are about the same size, but mature males are typically 30% to 50% longer and three times as massive as females. Newborn sperm whales are usually between long in length. Female sperm whales are physically mature at about in length and generally don't grow much larger than about .
Sperm whale | External appearance
The pygmy blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda") is a subspecies of the blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus") found in the Indian Ocean and the southern Pacific Ocean. Reaching lengths of up to 24 metres (79 ft) it is smaller than the other commonly recognized subspecies, "B. m. musculus" and "B. m. intermedia", the former reaching 28 m (92 ft) and the latter 30 m (98 ft), hence its common name. The pygmy blue whale is the only one of the three identifiable subspecies to be found regularly in tropical waters. It occurs from the sub-Antarctic zone to the southern Indian Ocean and southwestern Pacific Ocean, breeding in the Indian and South Atlantic oceans, and travelling south to above the Antarctic to feed, although they very rarely cross the Antarctic Convergence.
Pygmy blue whale | Introduction
Allometric analysis indicates that mammalian brain size scales at approximately the ⅔ or ¾ exponent of the body mass. Comparison of a particular animal's brain size with the expected brain size based on such allometric analysis provides an encephalisation quotient that can be used as another indication of animal intelligence. Sperm whales have the largest brain mass of any animal on earth, averaging and in mature males, in comparison to the average human brain which averages in mature males. The brain to body mass ratio in some odontocetes, such as belugas and narwhals, is second only to humans. Small whales are known to engage in complex play behaviour, which includes such things as producing stable underwater toroidal air-core vortex rings or "bubble rings".
Whale | Intelligence
Also, the greater heat capacity and thermal conductivity of water compared to air may increase the thermoregulatory advantage of large body size in marine endotherms, although diminishing returns apply. Among toothed whales, maximum body size appears to be limited by food availability. Larger size, as in sperm and beaked whales, facilitates deeper diving to access relatively easily-caught, large cephalopod prey in a less competitive environment. Compared to odontocetes, the efficiency of baleen whales' filter feeding scales more favorably with increasing size when planktonic food is dense, making larger size more advantageous. The lunge feeding technique of rorquals appears to be more energy efficient than the ram feeding of balaenid whales; the latter technique is used with less dense and patchy plankton.
Megafauna | In marine mammals
It would have weighed about 42½ tons []." They added that a specimen, such as the one reported from Thimble Tickle, "would have weighed 29¼ or 30 tons [] including the tentacles—a truly noble animal, being a little more than one-fifth the weight of the largest whale and larger than the whale sharks and basking sharks, the largest of all fishes" (MacGinitie & MacGinitie, 1949). Ellis (1998a:106) characterised these estimates as "unfounded exaggerations". In the revised edition of "Natural History of Marine Animals", published in 1968, the authors reduced their estimate to less than 8 tonnes (MacGinitie & MacGinitie, 1968; Wood, 1982:190).
Cephalopod size | Mass estimates
Adult males can also have long white ‘scratch’ scars. Males reach at least 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) and 800 kg (1,800 lb), whereas females reach at least 4.6 m (15') and 1 tonne (2200 pounds). Juveniles are 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) long when born and weigh 60 kg (130 lb). No data on lifespan is available.
Blainville's beaked whale | Description
The males of most species are covered in scars from the teeth of other males. The lower jaw often forms a huge arch in some species, sometimes extending above the rostrum in a shape comparable to a playground slide. Every species has large (sometimes tusk-like) teeth of variable size, shape, and position.
Mesoplodont whale | Physical description
Allometric analysis indicates that mammalian brain size scales at approximately the ⅔ or ¾ exponent of the body mass. Comparison of a particular animal's brain size with the expected brain size based on such allometric analysis provides an encephalization quotient that can be used as another indication of animal intelligence. Killer whales have the second largest brain mass of any animal on earth, next to the sperm whale. The brain to body mass ratio in some is second only to humans. Self-awareness is seen, by some, to be a sign of highly developed, abstract thinking. Self-awareness, though not well-defined scientifically, is believed to be the precursor to more advanced processes like meta-cognitive reasoning (thinking about thinking) that are typical of humans.
Oceanic dolphin | Intelligence
The heaviest living animals are all cetaceans, and thus also the largest living mammals. Since no scale can accommodate the whole body of a large whale, most whales have been weighed by parts.
Largest organisms | Heaviest living animals
The second chamber is larger and is where digestion takes place. Undigested squid beaks accumulate in the second chamber – as many as 18,000 have been found in some dissected specimens. Most squid beaks are vomited by the whale, but some occasionally make it to the hindgut. Such beaks precipitate the formation of ambergris. In 1959, the heart of a 22 metric-ton (24 short-ton) male taken by whalers was measured to be , about 0.5% of its total mass. The circulatory system has a number of specific adaptations for the aquatic environment. The diameter of the aortic arch increases as it leaves the heart.
Sperm whale | Biological systems
For most of the Oligocene and Miocene, whales generally stayed well below in length. Large size in baleen whales was thought to be linked to the evolution of baleen and bulk feeding behavior, however "Llanocetus" is evidence that gigantism evolved multiple times in baleen whales. The size of "Llanocetus" is probably due to its polar environment or potential long-distance traveling.
Llanocetus | Description
The minke whales are the second smallest baleen whale; only the pygmy right whale is smaller. Upon reaching sexual maturity (6–8 years of age), males measure an average of and females in length, respectively. Reported maximum lengths vary from for females and for males. Both sexes typically weigh at sexual maturity, and the maximum weight may be as much as . The minke whale is a black/gray/purple color. Common minke whales (Northern Hemisphere variety) are distinguished from other whales by a white band on each flipper. The body is usually black or dark-gray above and white underneath. Minke whales have between 240 and 360 baleen plates on each side of their mouths.
Minke whale | Description
Like most species, scars occur on the males (from other males) and cookiecutter shark bites are present on both sexes. The length is at least 5.25 meters (17 feet 6 inches) for males and 5.5 meters (18 feet) for females. They are likely around 2.1 to 2.3 meters (7 to 8 feet) in length when born.
Stejneger's beaked whale | Description
Mounted blue whale skeletons can be found prominently in the cathedral-like entrance hall to the Natural History Museum (London, UK); the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz (California); the Melbourne Museum (Australia); Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (California); New Bedford Whaling Museum (Massachusetts); North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh, NC); Iziko South African Museum (Cape Town, South Africa); Canadian Museum of Nature (Ottawa); Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Canada); Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada); Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St.
Blue whale | Museum specimens
The last gray whale, J.J., beached itself in Marina del Rey, California, where it was rushed to SeaWorld San Diego and, after 14 months, was released because it got too big to take care of. Reaching and , J.J. was the largest creature to be kept in captivity. The Mito Aquarium in Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan, housed three minke whales in the nearby bay enclosed by nets. One survived for three months, another (a calf) survived for two weeks, and another was kept for over a month before breaking through the nets.
Baleen whale | In captivity
In the January 1897 issue of the "American Journal of Science" he wrote: The proportions [given by Webb] indicate that this might have been a squid-like form, and not an "Octopus". The "breadth" is evidently that of the softened and collapsed body, and would represent an actual maximum diameter in life of at least 7 feet and a probable weight of 4 or 5 tons for the body and head. These dimensions are decidedly larger than those of any of the well-authenticated Newfoundland specimens. It is perhaps a species of "Architeuthis". Verrill soon changed his mind about the identity of the creature.
St. Augustine Monster | Second stranding
Females are considerably larger than males. At birth, a calf typically measures in length.
Sei whale | Description
Allometric analysis indicates that mammalian brain size scales at approximately two-thirds or three-quarter exponent of the body mass. Comparison of a particular animal's brain size with the expected brain size based on such an analysis provides an encephalization quotient that can be used as an indication of animal intelligence. Sperm whales have the largest brain mass of any animal on earth, averaging and in mature males. The brain to body mass ratio in some odontocetes, such as belugas and narwhals, is second only to humans. In some whales, however, it is less than half that of humans: 0.9% versus 2.1%.
Cetacea | Brain
In most mammals, keratin structures, such as wool, air-dry, but aquatic whales rely on calcium salts to form on the plates to stiffen them. Baleen plates are attached to the upper jaw and are absent in the mid-jaw, forming two separate combs of baleen. The plates decrease in size as they go further back into the jaw; the largest ones are called the "main baleen plates" and the smallest ones are called the "accessory plates". Accessory plates taper off into small hairs. Unlike other whales (and most other mammals), the females are larger than the males. Sexual dimorphism is usually reversed, with the males being larger, but the females of all baleen whales are usually five percent larger than males.
Baleen whale | External anatomy
A whale is a sea mammal. Whale or The Whale may also refer to:
Whale (disambiguation) | Introduction
On July 19, 2012, Lovey gave birth to her second calf, a female named Luna. "Luna measures about 7.8 feet and weighs in at around 620 pounds (November 2012). Her father is Oscar."
List of captive killer whales | Lovey
Larger individuals of both sexes primarily occur further north (off Svalbard and in the Barents Sea), while smaller individuals mainly occur to the south (e.g. along the Norwegian coast from Lofoten south, in an area once known as a summering ground for newly weaned calves). In the Barents Sea, over 40 per cent of females are mature, with the vast majority being pregnant (94.4%). In the western North Pacific, larger animals are typically found in higher latitudes (e.g. in the Okhotsk Sea, south of the Kuril Islands, and around the Commander and western Aleutian Islands), while smaller animals, especially females, dominate in lower latitudes (e.g.
Common minke whale | Segregation
The rostrum is flat and V-shaped with the head occupying about a quarter of the body length. The pectoral fins are short but slender, being from about 13 to 15 per cent of the body length. The dorsal fin ranges between 7.5 to 20 cm (3 to 8 inches) in height and 18 to 60 cm (7 to 23.6 inches) in length for specimens 3.9 to 7.15 m (12.8 to 23.4 ft) in length, and is placed about 57 per cent of the body length back from the tip of the rostrum. It is 61.5 per cent of the body length from the tip of the lower jaw to the umbilicus, whereas it is about 63 per cent from the tip of the lower jaw to the end of the ventral grooves.
Omura's whale | Morphometrics
In the Northern Hemisphere, the average size of adult males and females is about , respectively, averaging 38.5 and 50.5 tonnes (42.5 and 55.5 tons), while in the Southern Hemisphere, it is , weighing 52.5 and 63 tonnes (58 and 69.5 tons). In the North Atlantic, the longest reported were a 24.4 m (80 ft) male caught off Shetland in 1905 and a female caught off Scotland sometime between 1908 and 1914, while the longest reliably measured were three 20.7 m (68 ft) males caught off Iceland in 1973–74 and a 22.5 m (74 ft) female also caught off Iceland in 1975.
Fin whale | Size
There is a degree of asymmetry, with a smaller number of white plates on the left side than on the right (12% on average for the left versus 34% on average for the right). The dark gray border occupies about one third of the width of the plates (ranging from about one-seventh to over half of its width), with the average width being greater on the left side than on the right. In contrast, dwarf minkes have smaller baleen plates of only in length, have a greater number of white plates (over 54%, often 100%) that lack this asymmetrical coloration, and have a narrow dark gray border (when present) of less than 6% of the width of the plate.
Antarctic minke whale | External appearance
Baleen whale remains include ancient minke whales, grey whales, bowhead whales, and cetotheriids. Of the toothed whales, five species of pontoporiids as well as beaked whales, porpoises, three other species of sperm whales such as "cf. Scaldicetus", and the "Odobenocetops" have been yielded. Other marine mammals include the marine sloth "Thalassocnus" and pinnipeds like "Acrophoca". At least 28 different species of sharks have been described, including many extant ground sharks and white sharks as well as extinct species such as the false-toothed mako ("Parotodus sp."), broad-toothed mako, megalodon, and the transitional great white "Carcharodon hubbelli". Other marine vertebrates include penguins and other seabirds, and species of crocodiles and ghavials.
Livyatan | Palaeoecology
Allometric analysis indicates that mammalian brain size scales around the two-thirds or three-quarters exponent of the body mass. Comparison of a particular animal's brain size with the expected brain size based on such allometric analysis provides an encephalisation quotient that can be used as another indication of animal intelligence. Sperm whales have the largest brain mass of any animal on earth, averaging and in mature males, in comparison to the average human brain which averages in mature males. The brain to body mass ratio in some odontocetes, such as belugas and narwhals, is second only to humans. Dolphins are known to engage in complex play behaviour, which includes such things as producing stable underwater toroidal air-core vortex rings or "bubble rings".
Toothed whale | Intelligence
Males are 4.5 meters (15 ft) in length and females are at least 5.2 meters (17 ft) and probably weigh more than 1200 kg (2600 pounds). Calves are believed to be 2.1 meters (7 feet) in length. One beached specimen may have been 48 years old.
Gervais' beaked whale | Description
These are the species of the smallest size, which Melville generically calls porpoises.
Cetology of Moby-Dick | III. The Duodecimo Whale
Petersburg, Russia); Iceland Husavik Museum (Húsavík, Iceland), the Museum of South-East Sulawesi (Kendari, Indonesia), the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington, New Zealand) and the Marine Science Museum at Tokai University (Tokyo, Japan). Skulls are kept in the Paris Museum of Paleontology (France), Phan Tiet City, Vietnam, and the Regional Museum of Ancud (Chile). The Göteborg Natural History Museum (Sweden) contains the only taxidermized blue whale in the world, a 52 ft (16 m) juvenile killed after stranding alive in 1865, with its skeleton mounted beside the mount.
Blue whale | Museum specimens
The third programme begins in the tropics, where a white sperm whale calf stays close to its mother. The 19th-century story of the "Essex", with its whalemen stranded in their lifeboats after a sperm whale attack is used to illustrate the difficulty of surviving in the open ocean. The currents that circle the South Pacific support huge shoals and an incredible variety of life, but much of the centre is an ocean desert. Nutrients are trapped at depth by the thermocline, making the windless surface clear but barren. Life can be tough for large predators. Some, including short-finned pilot whales, can dive to great depths to hunt squid.
South Pacific (TV series) | 3. "Endless Blue"
The cooling trend in Earth's recent history may have generated more localities of high plankton abundance via wind-driven upwellings, facilitating the evolution of gigantic whales. Cetaceans are not the only marine mammals to reach tremendous sizes. The largest carnivorans of all time are marine pinnipeds, the largest of which is the southern elephant seal, which can reach 6 meters in length and weigh up to . Other large pinnipeds include the northern elephant seal at , walrus at , and Steller sea lion at . The sirenians are another group of marine mammals which adapted to fully aquatic life around the same time as the cetaceans did.
Megafauna | In marine mammals
This whale was similar in appearance to the living Balaenopteridae, although it was considerably smaller in size: the skull barely exceeded one meter in total length, while the entire animal reached around six meters. Considered nowadays to be a primitive member of the Mysticeti, already equipped with baleen, "Titanocetus" was a carrier of both modern (i.e. the rostrum, wide and flat) and ancestral characters (i.e. the squamosal and parietal bones, which occupy part of the temporal fenestra).
Titanocetus | Description
The second came in when the ocean was 300 m lower. The second carried a great deal of ice which was dropped in valleys. Calculations show that the average height of the waves would have been 50 m, but the heights would vary from 10 m to 120 m. Numerical simulations show that in this particular part of the ocean two impact craters of the size of 30 km in diameter would form every 30 million years. The implication here is that a great northern ocean may have existed for millions of years. One argument against an ocean has been the lack of shoreline features.
Mare Acidalium quadrangle | Ocean
The pygmy sperm whale is not much larger than many dolphins. They are about at birth, growing to about at maturity. Adults weigh about . The underside is a creamy, occasionally pinkish colour and the back and sides are a bluish grey; however, considerable intermixing occurs between the two colours. The shark-like head is large in comparison to body size, given an almost swollen appearance when viewed from the side. A whitish marking, often described as a "false gill", is seen behind each eye. The lower jaw is very small and slung low. The blowhole is displaced slightly to the left when viewed from above facing forward.
Pygmy sperm whale | Description
The fat forms a layer that covers all of the body except the head, and it can be up to thick. It acts as insulation in waters with temperatures between 0 and 18 °C, as well as being an important reserve during periods without food.
Beluga whale | Size
acutorostrata") and named it "B. huttoni". Both descriptions were largely ignored for a century. Gordon R. Williamson was the first to describe a dark-flippered form in the Southern Hemisphere, based on three specimens, a pregnant female taken in 1955 and two males taken in 1957, all brought aboard the British factory ship "Balaena". All three had uniformly pale gray flippers and bicolored baleen, with white plates in the front and gray plates in the back. Further studies in the 1960s supported his description. In the 1970s osteological and morphological studies suggested it was at least a subspecies of the common minke whale, which was designated "B.
Antarctic minke whale | History
Baleen whales famously migrate very long distances into tropical waters to give birth and raise young, possibly to prevent predation by killer whales. The gray whale has the longest recorded migration of any mammal, with one traveling from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Baja Peninsula. During the winter, manatees living at the northern end of their range migrate to warmer waters.
Marine mammal | Distribution and habitat
Sowerby's beaked whale has a typical body shape for the genus, and is mainly distinguished by the male's dual teeth positioned far back in the mouth. The whale's beak is moderately long, and the melon is slightly convex. The colouration pattern is a grey with light countershading on the bottom, and frequently has cookie cutter shark bites and scars from teeth (in males). The whale reaches 5 metres (16 ft) in females and 5.5 metres (18 ft) in males, with a weight of 1000-1300 kilograms (2200-2900 lb). The gestation period lasts for 12 months and the young are born at a length of 2.4 to 2.7 metres (8 to 9 ft) with a weight of around 185 kilograms (400 lb).
Sowerby's beaked whale | Physical description
There are eight episodes in the series. The marine experts carry out pioneering science on the 20-metre-long sperm whale. Why are parts of the Southern Ocean warming twice as fast as the rest of Earth's oceans?
Oceans (TV series) | Episodes/Locations
The heaviest animal (nicknamed 'Big') attained a peak weight of and its largest suckers measured in diameter (Anderson, 2003:2; Cosgrove & McDaniel, 2009:71). Anderson suggested the species might now be maturing at a smaller size as a result of toxicant bioaccumulation, which could explain the lack of truly gigantic specimens in recent times. In particular, high concentrations of heavy metals and PCBs have been identified in the digestive glands of wild giant Pacific octopuses, likely originating from their preferred prey, the red rock crab ("Cancer productus") (Anderson, 2003:3; Cosgrove & McDaniel, 2009:71; Scheel & Anderson, 2012). A preliminary study found that aquarium animals fed equal quantities of raw sea food and live "C.
Cephalopod size | Possible diminution in size
The sei whale (, "Balaenoptera borealis") is a baleen whale, the third-largest rorqual after the blue whale and the fin whale. It inhabits most oceans and adjoining seas, and prefers deep offshore waters. It avoids polar and tropical waters and semi-enclosed bodies of water. The sei whale migrates annually from cool, subpolar waters in summer to temperate, subtropical waters in winter with a lifespan of 70 years. Reaching long and weighing as much as , the sei whale consumes an average of of food every day; its diet consists primarily of copepods, krill, and other zooplankton. It is among the fastest of all cetaceans, and can reach speeds of up to (27 knots) over short distances.
Sei whale | Introduction
with killer whales."
Ocean Giants | Reception
The Blue whale skeleton "Ms. Blue" is one of the largest blue whale skeletons displayed in the world and is one of four blue whale skeletons displayed in North America. The whale is tall and long, and was not fully grown when she washed ashore at Fiddlers Cove near Pescadero on September 6, 1979. Shortly after discovery, biologists and students from UC Santa Cruz began "flensing" (removing flesh and blubber) from the whale, with the whole process taking about a month to complete. Transported by helicopter and truck to the marine lab, the skeleton lay in a grassy field just downwind of lab buildings for over a year before being buried.
UC Santa Cruz Coastal Science Campus | The blue whale skeleton
Divisions: Social Mammals, Marine Mammals, Who In The What Now, and Fossil Mammals Animals who did not advance to round two: titi monkey, dingo, meerkat, beaver, marmot, bush dog, hyrax, bandicoot, fisher, saki monkey, Sunda colugo, pangolin, echidna, olinguito, mara, "A. afarensis", "A. sediba", dire wolf, aurochs, giant giraffid, megalania, rhino wombat, giant baboon, Godzilla platypus, sea otter, beluga whale, harbor seal, river dolphin, hooded seal, ringed seal, narwhal, manatee.
March Mammal Madness | 2014
brydei"). The former size category may be primarily (if not entirely) Omura's whale, whereas the larger whales – one of unknown sex of and two females of – would be the larger, offshore form of Bryde's whale. Of those smaller whales, four males ranged from , four females ranged from , and one of unknown sex was . Lone individuals seen off Madagascar were estimated to range between 8 and 12 m (26.2 to 39.4 ft), while calves were estimated to be between 3 and 5 m (9.8 to 16.4 ft).
Omura's whale | Size
The common minke whale is the smallest of the rorquals, and one of the smallest baleen whales (second smallest only to the Pygmy right whale). In the North Atlantic, Norwegian whaling vessels in 1940 allegedly caught individuals of up to in length, but they were likely only measured visually in comparison to objects of known dimensions aboard the ships themselves – the longest caught in subsequent years were typically only up to in length. In the North Pacific, Soviet vessels operating out of the Kuril Islands claimed to have caught two males of 12.2 (40 ft) and and a female of – the first two were landed in 1951, the third in 1960.
Common minke whale | Size
a. bonaerensis", after Burmeister's specimen. In the 1980s further studies based on external appearance and osteology suggested there were in fact two forms in the Southern Hemisphere, a larger form with dark flippers and a "diminutive" or "dwarf form" with white flippers, the latter of which appeared to be more closely related to the common form of the Northern Hemisphere. This was strengthened by genetic studies using allozyme and mitochondrial DNA analyses, which proposed there were at least two species of minke whale, "B. acutorostrata" and "B. bonaerensis", with the dwarf form being more closely related to the former species.
Antarctic minke whale | History
In this marine environment, it exists at between .
Acropora donei | Description
Adult males often carry linear scars that probably result from fighting, and both males and females may display circular scars from cookiecutter shark bites. "M. grayi" are long and weigh around . They are believed to be around long when born.
Gray's beaked whale | Description
Southern fin whales are larger than their northern hemisphere counterparts, with males averaging 20.5 m (67 ft) and females 22 m (72 ft). Maximum reported figures are 25 m (82 ft) for males and 27.3 m (89.5 ft) for females, while the longest measured by Mackintosh and Wheeler (1929) were 22.4 m (73' 7" ft) and 24.5 m (80' 5" ft); although Major F. A. Spencer, while whaling inspector of the factory ship "Southern Princess" (1936–38), confirmed the length of a 25.9 m (85 ft) female caught in the Antarctic south of the southern Indian Ocean. At sexual maturity, males average 19.2 m (63 ft) and females 19.9 m (65.3 ft).
Southern fin whale | Size
For Antarctic blue whales, for example, some remain year-round in the Antarctic, some remain year-round in northerly grounds, and most disperse throughout the Southern Hemisphere in the austral winter months.
Blue whale | Migration
Allometric analysis indicates that mammalian brain size scales at approximately the ⅔ or ¾ exponent of the body mass. Comparison of a particular animal's brain size with the expected brain size based on such allometric analysis provides an encephalization quotient that can be used as another indication of animal intelligence. Killer whales have the second largest brain mass of any animal on earth, next to the sperm whale. The brain to body mass ratio in some is second only to humans. Self-awareness is seen, by some, to be a sign of highly developed, abstract thinking. Self-awareness, though not well-defined scientifically, is believed to be the precursor to more advanced processes like meta-cognitive reasoning (thinking about thinking) that are typical of humans.
Dolphin | Intelligence
Ocean Giants is a 2011 British nature documentary series narrated by actor Stephen Fry. The series is a production of the BBC Natural History Unit, and premiered on 14 August 2011. The documentaries focus on the life of dolphins and whales. The series includes film crew members who worked on the series "Planet Earth". The cameramen featured in the show are Doug Allen, a winner of four Emmys and four BAFTAs for his work on filming marine mammals, and Didier Noirot, known for working with marine conservationist Jacques Cousteau. The series consists of three episodes, each an hour long. The first episode, "Giant Lives", focuses on humpback whales and blue whales, The second, "Deep Thinkers", explores the cognitive abilities of dolphins.
Ocean Giants | Introduction
They possess 50 to 70 thin ventral pleats, which only extend about 47 percent of the body length – among the shortest relative to body length among the rorquals, second only to the sei whale.
Common minke whale | Northern form
2014. J. G. M. Thewissen. The Walking Whales, from Land to Water in Eight Million Years. University of California Press, 245 pp. https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520277069 2017. B. Würsig, J. G. M. Thewissen, and K. Kovacs, editors. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edition. Academic Press, Elsevier, 1157 pp. https://www.elsevier.com/books/encyclopedia-of-marine-mammals/wursig/978-0-12-804327-1
Hans Thewissen | Books
There is sometimes a dark blaze between the head and dorsal fin as well. One female in the Southern Hemisphere was bluish black with a white area between the dorsal fin and tail as well as a light gray jaw and throat, as well as black speckling. One individual from the Canary Islands had an area of white from snout to blowhole. Scars from fighting and cookiecutter sharks are present on males. This species reaches around with the females weighing and the males weighing . They are around long when born.
True's beaked whale | Physical description
The 40 to 70 ventral pleats extend to or past the umbilicus, occupying about 58% and 57% of the total length, respectively; sei whales, though, have ventral pleats that extend only halfway between the pectoral fins and umbilicus, occupying only 45–47% of the total body length, whereas their umbilicus is usually 52% of the total body length. Both species are often covered with white or pink oval scars caused by bites from cookie-cutter sharks.
Bryde's whale | External appearance
The second came in when the ocean was 300 m lower. The second carried a great deal of ice which was dropped in valleys. Calculations show that the average height of the waves would have been 50 m, but the heights would vary from 10 m to 120 m. Numerical simulations show that in this particular part of the ocean two impact craters of the size of 30 km in diameter would form every 30 million years. The implication here is that a great northern ocean may have existed for millions of years. One argument against an ocean has been the lack of shoreline features.
Ismenius Lacus quadrangle | Ocean
White whale or beluga whale is an Arctic and sub-Arctic species of cetacean. White Whale may also refer to:
White Whale (disambiguation) | Introduction
It possesses a distinctive protuberance at the front of its head which houses an echolocation organ called the melon, which in this species is large and deformable. The beluga's body size is between that of a dolphin and a true whale, with males growing up to long and weighing up to . This whale has a stocky body. Like many cetaceans, a large percentage of its weight is blubber (subcutaneous fat). Its sense of hearing is highly developed and its echolocation allows it to move about and find breathing holes under sheet ice. Belugas are gregarious and form groups of 10 animals on average, although during the summer, they can gather in the hundreds or even thousands in estuaries and shallow coastal areas.
Beluga whale | Introduction
The Irish Whales included; John Flanagan, Simon Gillis, James Mitchell, Pat McDonald, Paddy Ryan, Martin Sheridan, Matt McGrath and Con Walsh. What Sheridan lacked in girth, he made up for with his appetite and athletic accomplishments, nine Olympic medals in all. "Matt McGrath was built like a wedge. He was a six-footer, but he weighed 248 pounds. John Flanagan was about the same. Simon Gillis was 6′2″ and 240. Paddy Ryan was 6′5″ and 296, while Pat McDonald was 6′5″ and 300 pounds."
Irish Whales | Introduction