Whale

Whales are about 80 species of large, exclusively aquatic placental mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, just the largest ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea—which leads to difficulties, as the Killer Whale and the Pilot Whale[?] are members of the family Delphinidae[?] and technically dolphins. The cetaceans are divided into two suborders: Mysticeti, the baleen whales, and Odontoceti, the toothed whales[?].

Like all members of the order, whales evolved from land mammals which returned to the sea, probably in the Eocene, between 55 and 34 million years ago. The precise ancestry of whales is still obscure, as there is no commonly agreed succession, but they are thought to have evolved from a group of carnivorous artiodactyla (even-toed hoofed animals). In 2001, two important 47-million-year-old partial fossils, named Rodhocetus Balochistanensis and Artiocetus clavis[?], were discovered in Balochistan, Pakistan. These fossils represent intermediate forms between land-living ungulates and whales and are evidence that the whales' closest relatives on land might be hippos, which had been previously suggested by DNA studies.

Like all mammals, whales breathe air into lungs, are warm-blooded (to be precise, endothermic), breast-feed their young, and have some (very little) hair. Whales have two blowholes which they use for breathing. When breathing out after a dive, a "V" shaped spout can be seen from the right perspective. Whales have a four-chambered heart. Baleen, the sieve-like structures which baleen whales use to filter food out of the water, is made from keratin. Whales are broadly classed as predators, but their food ranges from microscopic plankton to very large fish. The male is called a bull; the female, a cow; and the young, a calf.

Especially noteworthy is the Blue Whale, the largest animal that has ever lived. It may be up to 30 meters long and weigh 150 tons.

Many species of whales were hunted nearly to extinction, for their meat, fat (used to make lamp oil), oil and ambergris (from Sperm Whales[?]), a perfume ingredient. International treaties now sharply restrict whaling. Canada, Iceland, Japan and Norway and other countries hunt not endangered whales, while small aboriginal groups in the United States and Pacific island nations hunt endangered whales on a small scale.

Order Cetacea

• SUBORDER MYSTICETI (12 species in four families.)
  • Family Eschrichtiidae
    • Gray Whale, Eschrichtius robustus
  • Family Balaenopteridae (rorquals)
    • Fin Whale, Balaenoptera physalus
    • Sei Whale[?], Balaenoptera borealis
    • Bryde's Whale, Balaenoptera brydei
    • Pygmy Bryde's Whale, Balaenoptera edeni
    • Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus
    • Northern Minke Whale[?], Balaenoptera acutorostrata
    • Southern Minke Whale[?], Balaenoptera bonaerensis
    • Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
  • Family Balaenidae[?] (right whales)
    • Northern Right Whale[?], Eubalaena glacialis
    • Southern Right Whale[?], Eubalaena australia
    • Bowhead Whale[?], Eubalaena mysticetus
  • Family Neobalaenidae
    • Pygmy Right Whale[?], Caperea marginata

• SUBORDER ODONTOCETI (9 families: four of 'true' whales, plus dolphins and porpoises.)
  • Family Platanistidae (river dolphins[?])
  • Family Delphinidae (dolphins)
    • Melon-headed Whale, Peponocephalia electra
    • Killer Whale, Orcinus orca
    • Pygmy Killer Whale[?], Feresa attenuata
    • False Killer Whale[?], Psudoorca crassidens
    • Long-finned Pilot Whale[?], Globicephala melas
    • Short-finned Pilot Whale[?], Globicephala macrorhynchus
    • (Plus at least 30 other species not called whales.)
  • Family Phocoenidae (porpoises)
  • Family Monodontidae[?]
    • Beluga, Delphinapterus leucas
    • Narwhal, Monodon monoceros
  • Family Physeteridae
    • Sperm Whale[?]
  • Family Kogiidae
    • Pygmy Sperm Whale, Kogia breviceps
    • Dwarf Sperm Whale, Kogia simus
  • Family Ziphiidae, beaked whales
    • Cuvier's Beaked Whale, Ziphius cavirostris
    • At least 20 other species in 6 genera. See beaked whale for a full listing.

The hunting of whales is the subject of one of the classics of the English language literary canon, Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

References and external links:

• Cetacea site: http://www.cetacea.org/
• Greenpeace whale site: http://whales.greenpeace.org/
• Kate Wong: "The Mammals that Conquered the Seas", Scientific American, Vol 286, No 5, May 2002
• Probably the best introductory guide to cetaceans is the inexpensive but comprehensive Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by Mark Carwardine, published by Dorling Kindersley, 2000. ISBN 0-7513-2781-6