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Whales evolved from land-living mammals, and must regularly surface to breathe air, although they can remain underwater for long periods of time. Some species, such as the sperm whale, can stay underwater for up to 90 minutes. [2] They have blowholes (modified nostrils) located on top of their heads, through which air is taken in and expelled.
Unlike most animals, whales are conscious breathers. All mammals sleep, but whales cannot afford to become unconscious for long because they may drown. They are believed to exhibit unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, in which they sleep with half of the brain while the other half remains active. This behaviour was only documented in toothed whales ...
A 2008 study found that sperm whales sleep in vertical postures just under the surface in passive shallow 'drift-dives', generally during the day, during which whales do not respond to passing vessels unless they are in contact, leading to the suggestion that whales possibly sleep during such dives. [56]
Whales are more likely to breach when they are in groups, suggesting that it is a non-verbal signal to other group members during social behaviour. Scientists have called this theory "honest signalling". The immense cloud of bubbles and underwater disturbance following a breach cannot be faked; neighbours then know a breach has taken place.
The whales eat amphipod crustaceans like tiny shrimp and worms, which they consume by sucking up water and sediment from the seafloor, where such creatures live, then using their baleens to filter ...
The sperm whale or cachalot [a] (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator.It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia.
We knew whales made a vast array of vocalizations, called songs, that can carry for thousands of miles underwater under the right conditions.
Baleen whales can have streamlined or large bodies, depending on the feeding behavior, and two limbs that are modified into flippers. The fin whale is the fastest baleen whale, recorded swimming at 10 m/s (36 km/h; 22 mph). Baleen whales use their baleen plates to filter out food from the water by either lunge-feeding or skim-feeding