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| WHITE WHALE |
AUSTRALIA THINKS THAT JAPAN WILL
DIMINISH THE WHITE WHALE TO THE POINT OF EXTINCTION BECAUSE OF THEIR WHALING
POLICIES.
There are two species which belong to
the family of white whales.
They are the Beluga and Narwhal Wales and they both living in the Arctic waters. They form a group which is called a pod and is either females and young or a pod of males. The beluga has an ivory colour from head to tail and is 5m long. The narwhal only differs in colour which is marbled green, grey, cream and black. They don't have a dorsal fin but a low ridge along its back.
NARWHALS
The narwhal has a distinct feature, a tusk. The male narwhal's left upper incisor is an amazing long, spiralled tusk. Sometimes a narwhal even grows two tusks. Females very rarely grow any but they have two incisors about 20cm long. It is assumed that their tusk might be a social role - playing a part in display, breeding or a social status. Males do use their tusk for fighting and there are injuries. The communication is quite widely from calls, whistles, clangs to clicks; as well as cow-like mooi
They are the Beluga and Narwhal Wales and they both living in the Arctic waters. They form a group which is called a pod and is either females and young or a pod of males. The beluga has an ivory colour from head to tail and is 5m long. The narwhal only differs in colour which is marbled green, grey, cream and black. They don't have a dorsal fin but a low ridge along its back.
NARWHALS
The narwhal has a distinct feature, a tusk. The male narwhal's left upper incisor is an amazing long, spiralled tusk. Sometimes a narwhal even grows two tusks. Females very rarely grow any but they have two incisors about 20cm long. It is assumed that their tusk might be a social role - playing a part in display, breeding or a social status. Males do use their tusk for fighting and there are injuries. The communication is quite widely from calls, whistles, clangs to clicks; as well as cow-like mooi
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| NARWHAL SKULL |
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| NARWHAL |
BELUGAS
Both species have a wide range in
their diet. Belugas do hunt in small groups and herd shoals of herring, salmon
and cod into shallow water. .They can chase a fish on the seabed with their
flexible neck sweeping it with their jaws. Belugas eat also crustaceans, worms
and molluscs. Narwhal eat arctic cod, flounders and cephalopods. Narwhals stay
in the arctic waters. The belugas swim with the pack ice south in winter and
north in summer.
BEAKED WHALES
Very rarely to be seen are the beaked whales. They are a primitive species with either a long or short beaks. The group has 18 species of 4-12m long whales. Most of them have a single pair of fully developed teeth in the lower jaw. Arnoud's and Baird’s beaked whales have two pairs in the lower jaw and Shepherd's beaked whale has many teeth in both jaws. The females' teeth never erupt but for these three species. Beaked whales eat squid because of this amount of teeth.
Very rarely to be seen are the beaked whales. They are a primitive species with either a long or short beaks. The group has 18 species of 4-12m long whales. Most of them have a single pair of fully developed teeth in the lower jaw. Arnoud's and Baird’s beaked whales have two pairs in the lower jaw and Shepherd's beaked whale has many teeth in both jaws. The females' teeth never erupt but for these three species. Beaked whales eat squid because of this amount of teeth.
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SPERM WHALES
The huge sperm whale is the largest
of that group. The head is a third bigger than the tapering body. It contains
the largest brains of all animals and a huge sac of oil called spermaceti. The
blow-hole is on the tip of its head at the left hand side. The whale can blow
at 45o angle. The adult sperm whale has a narrow bottom jaw and has on each
side 20-25 teeth each 15cm long. Females have smaller and fewer teeth. The
lower jaw gives the impression to be flimsy, unlike the upper jaw, and it
sticks out. However, it so strong that it deters sharks, can snap whalers'
rowing boats in half and eats giant squid - their main food.
Sperm whales dive deep into the water
to find squid. These species is to be found in all the water of the word but
only the bull swims into the polar waters. The herd consists of females and
young. The young remain with their mother suckling in warmer waters of the
Caribbean.
When the young bulls are six years
old they leave and head for the colder waters around New Zealand. There in the
deep waters they feed on squid which could be 30-100cm long. Some show the
battle scars with giant squid. They brow on the abundance of food around there
and when they are about 30 years old they are ready to mate. A bull can reach
the length of 13-20m. At the mating season they can travel several thousands of
kilometres to find a female.
The sperm whale has two small
relatives. The pygmy sperm whale which grows up to 4m long and lives in the
oceanic waters. The dwarf sperm whale grows less than 3m long and lives in the
continental waters.
The bull sperm whale is thought it is
the deepest diver of all cetaceans. The ability to that depth is cause by
the enormous spermaceti organ in its head. A 30,000kg (30 tonne) whale
could be carrying a 2500kg of waxy spermaceti oil in its head. The oil is
liquid at 33oC which would be the temperature in the whale at the water
surface. At 31oC the oil starts to solidify and there is less buoyancy.
It is assumed that the whale regulates its temperature of the oil which gives
the ability to dive deep and surfaces from it without problems.
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| KILLER WHALES |
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