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Marine Mammals. Whales. Order: Cetacea – 90 species. Whales are different from seals and sea lions because they spend their entire lifespan in water. There are two main groups of whales: 1. Toothed whales 2. Baleen whales. Toothed whales.
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Marine Mammals Whales
Order: Cetacea – 90 species • Whales are different from seals and sea lions because they spend their entire lifespan in water. • There are two main groups of whales: 1. Toothed whales 2. Baleen whales
Toothed whales • Examples: killer whales, pilot whales, dolphins, porpoises, sperm whale • * one blowhole opening • * eat one prey item at a time/swallow prey whole • *feed in the entire water column
Baleen whales • Examples: gray whale, blue whale, right whales, humpback whale • 2 blowhole openings • toothless – feed with baleen which is made from keratin. It is a food filtering system. When water is pushed out of the mouth the krill are trapped! • Keratin is the same protein found in hair and fingernails. (like stiff straw) • They eat krill (2 inches)/plankton • Feed at the surface • Gulpers vs. skimmers
Comparing Toothed and Baleen Whales Ventral pleats – expand when water is taken into the mouth (found on baleen whales only).
Movement • Whales move with an up and down movement of the fluke (powerstroke). Upward movement provides the power! This is different than fish which use a side to side motion. • Spyhopping: vertical upward movement to look around. • Breaching: Jumping out of the water.
Echolocation: • Sound travels 4X faster in water than air. Used by whales to communicate. (we will talk about this is more detail when we do notes on dolphins)
Diving: To dive whales….. 1. Hold breath 2. Rapidly exhale (90% of Oxygen exchanged compared to 20% in humans) 3. Take a new breath – DIVE! • Sperm whales – 2 hour dive time • Blue whales – 40 min dive time • Bottlenose whales (dolphins) about 15 min.
Diving facts: • 1. Baleen whales don’t dive deep! Why? • A: Because plankton/krill are found at the surface • 2. Whales have more R.B.C’s than non-diving mammals. • 3. When whales dive their heart rate slows dramatically from 85 down to 12 per minute. • 4. Blood flow to nonessential organs is reduced. • #3 and #4 together are called bradycardia. • 5. Nitrogen dissolves better at high pressure ex. Think of the lungs like a pop bottle - lungs collapse – squeezes air to central part of lung where little Nitrogen is absorbed. Oxygen goes directly to blood.