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Toothed whales have torpedo-shaped bodies with usually inflexible necks, limbs modified into flippers, no outer ears, a large tail fin, and bulbous heads (with the exception of the sperm whale family). Their skulls have small eye orbits, long beaks (with the exception sperm whales), and eyes placed on the sides of their heads.
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.
Brain of the sperm whale, considered the largest brain in the world. Sperm whales have the largest brain mass of any animal on Earth, averaging 8,000 cm 3 (490 in 3) and 7.8 kg (17 lb) in mature males. [23] The brain to body mass ratio in some odontocetes, such as belugas and narwhals, is second only to humans. [24]
The blue whale is found throughout the world’s oceans, except for the Arctic. ... The blue whale is a carnivorous animal that doesn’t have proper teeth. Instead, it has baleen plates in its ...
Odontocetes, such as the sperm whale, possess teeth with cementum cells overlying dentine cells. Unlike human teeth, which are composed mostly of enamel on the portion of the tooth outside of the gum, whale teeth have cementum outside the gum. Only in larger whales, where the cementum is worn away on the tip of the tooth, does enamel show.
The sperm whale has 18 to 26 teeth on each side of its lower jaw which fit into sockets in the upper jaw. [56] The teeth are cone-shaped and weigh up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) each. [57] The teeth are functional, but do not appear to be necessary for capturing or eating squid, as well-fed animals have been found without teeth or even with deformed ...
Since the 1800s, only six other spade-toothed whales have been documented. On July 4, a spade-toothed whale washed up near Taiari Mouth in New Zealand and is the first whole animal recovered in ...
They were traditionally differentiated by the length of the pectoral flippers relative to total body length and the number of teeth. [7] The long-finned pilot whale was thought to have 9–12 teeth in each row and flippers one-fifth of total body length, compared to the short-finned pilot whale with its 7–9 teeth in each row and flippers one ...