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The narwhal was scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 publication Systema Naturae. [5] The word "narwhal" comes from the Old Norse nárhval, meaning 'corpse-whale', which possibly refers to the animal's grey, mottled skin and its habit of remaining motionless when at the water's surface, a behaviour known as "logging" that usually happens in the summer.
In particular, the characteristic narwhal 'horn' is anatomically a tooth; the unidentified specimen lacked a single narwhal tusk, but its teeth were spiraled, like the tusk of a narwhal. [ 5 ] [ 3 ] The specimen had 18 teeth, an intermediate number when compared to the beluga (40 teeth) and the narwhal (one tooth).
The skulls of modern whales show a great variety of adaptations towards aquatic life, clearly setting them apart from all other mammals. Among these adaptations is what is commonly referred to as "telescoping", a term that generally describes the fact that bones typically far apart are very closely spaced in cetaceans and largely overlap.
Whale ribs loosely articulate with their thoracic vertebrae at the proximal end, but do not form a rigid rib cage. This adaptation allows the chest to compress during deep dives as the pressure increases. [13] Mysticetes consist of four families: rorquals (balaenopterids), cetotheriids, right whales (balaenids), and grey whales (eschrichtiids).
The family Balaenidae, the right whales, contains two genera and four species. All right whales have no ventral grooves; a distinctive head shape with a strongly arched, narrow rostrum, bowed lower jaw; lower lips that enfold the sides and front of the rostrum; and long, narrow, elastic baleen plates (up to nine times longer than wide) with fine baleen fringes.
The name Whippomorpha is a combination of English (wh[ale] + hippo[potamus]) and Greek (μορφή, morphē = form). [2]Some attempts have been made to rename the suborder Cetancodonta, due to the misleading utilization of the suffix -morpha for a crown group, [6] as well as the risk of confusion with the clade Hippomorpha (which consists of equid perissodactyls); [7] however Whippomorpha ...
Some aquatic mammals, such as walrus, seal, sea lion, narwhals, beluga whales and killer whales, can store fat called blubber that they use to help keep warm in the icy waters. Some ungulates that live in frigid conditions often have pads under their hooves to help have a stronger tension on the icy ground or to help in climbing up on rocky ...
The adaptation of animal echolocation in toothed whales distinguishes them from fully aquatic archaeocetes and early baleen whales. The presence of baleen in baleen whales occurred gradually, with earlier varieties having very little baleen, and their size is linked to baleen dependence (and subsequent increase in filter feeding).