TOOTHED WHALES

DOLPHIN

THIS ARTICLE HAD BEEN WRITTEN TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE STILL ONGOING SLAUGHTER 

OF THESE MAGNIFICENT ANIMALS WHICH WILL LEAD TO 

THEIR EXTINCTION EVENTUALLY.

Toothed whales have one nostril and a beak with a row of pointed teeth which is typical of the family. Dolphins belong to the family of ocean hunters, although, they are acrobatic, friendly, intelligent and funny. Their relatives are ruthless killer whale, the gigantic sperm whale and the narwhal which is the unicorn of the Arctic.

Up to 18th century they were thought of as fish because they use fin power and ahave the same swimming way. However, whales have lungs and breathe air. Also they are warm blooded, their young one is born live and they suckle. They have 76 species and 10 belong to a subspecies Odontoceti - toothed whales. The others are baleen whales. Then there are six toothed whales - river dolphins (Platanistidae), dolphins (Delphinidae), porpoises (Phocoenidae), white whales (Monodotidae), sperm whales (Physeteridae) and beaked whales (Ziphiidae).

WHITE WHALE

SPERM WHALE

In the toothed whales family the small ones are known as dolphins and porpoises and the big ones are whales. They all are sleek and streamlined for speed.  It is hard to tell them apart. They have a single blow-hole to breath and a distinctive dorsal fin. Only the sperm whale, beluga and narwhal do not have a dorsal fin.

The toothed whales have about 38 species and most of them are porpoises and dolphins. These two families are alike but the porpoises are mainly living around the coast and the dolphins live in deeper water. Dolphins have a beak and with a row of pointed teeth. The porpoises have rounded snout and their teeth are flat like a spade. Many dolphins have a bulbous swelling on their head which is assumed to focus sounds when navigating and communicating.

PORPOISE

The colour of porpoises is grey or black with a lighter belly. Dolphins are either plain, patchy or black and white. The porpoises have various foods. Fin-less porpoises are eating prawns, common porpoises eat shoaling fish like herring and sardines and the Dall's porpoises eats hake, and several kinds of squid. Most of the dolphins catch fish with their toothed beak. Species with rounded snouts and fewer teeth eat squid. Dusky dolphins herd anchovies, driving to the surface and then there is no escape. Bottle-nosed dolphins catch open-sea fish and fish which live on the sea-bed. Their echo-located clicks and ultra-sonic frequencies enable them to discover the flatfish under the sandy seabed.

Dolphins live in a herd and the structure alters all the time because dolphins come and go. The open-sea species may have a herd of several hundred.  Large groups cooperating to catch fish and have frenzy attack on the dense concentrations of fish. Within the herd there is a lot of mating going on and nudging and toughing with flippers. Also swimming belly to belly had been observed quiet often. Fights break out and chases. Dolphins also tell each other off with ferocious loud clicks.

KILLER WHALE

The killer whale is the largest dolphin. Up to 10m long and in black and white, very distinctive. The male is larger than the female. The killer whale lives in a stable family group called pods. It has an adult male and several female and young ones. A pod also can be of young male only. Its diet is fish and squid but also known to eat seabirds. It is the only whale to prey on other marine mammals as well as seals. A group of killer whales attacks whales twice their size but usual sick or old ones. Another species called the false killer whale is smaller and has black with grey marking.

Long-finned and short finned pilot whales have mainly cephalopods but also attack shoals of herrings. Pilot whales are well known for being stranded. They live in herds and all of them follow and get stranded.

WHITE WHALES

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

NARWHAL SKULL

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.

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.

KILLER WHALES