All About Whales

Whales are by far the largest creatures currently living on earth today, and are among the most massive to have ever existed. Members of the Cetacean order, which also includes the dolphin and the porpoise, whales are among a very unique group of mammals that spend their entire life in the sea.

Whales evolved from land dwelling mammals, and are believed to have first entered the water about 50 million years ago. Differing from many other sea creatures, whales are fully warm blooded animals that breathe oxygen in the air through their lungs. Overtime, whales have adapted to their aquatic surroundings, which includes body shape as well as developing a tremendous lung capacity. Many whales can remain under water without coming up for air for as long as 2 hours!

Like dolphins and porpoises, whales breathe through a blowhole, which is located on the top of the head so that the whale can breathe while continuing to keep the rest of its body fully submerged. The Blue whale is the largest of the whales, as well as the largest animal ever known to have existed on earth, measuring in at up to a whopping 94 feet long with a staggering weight of 180 tons!

There are currently more than 40 discovered whale species. Most whales are either classified as baleen whales or toothed whales. Baleen whales, which include the blue whale, the humpback whale and the gray whale among others, are characterized by having baleen plates in the front of their mouth instead of teeth for filtering their food from the water. Toothed whales, like the sperm whale, the beluga whale and the beaked whale, have teeth and usually feed on fish and other smaller sea creatures.

Orcas (killer whales) and Pilot Whales have the word “whale” in their name, but are actually scientifically classified in the dolphin family.

For more whale information, simply select any of the whale articles or other features below.