Whales belong to the class of cetaceans, which do not include dolphins and porpoises. From the Greek language, the very name "whale" is translated as "sea monster". Whales are not fish, they are mammals that feed their young with milk.
Whales do not only live in warm waters. They feel quite comfortable in cold conditions. They have abundant body fat and, oddly enough, there is hair on the body.
Scientists divide all cetaceans into three groups:
- ancient whales; considered completely extinct;
- mustache; as the name implies, these whales have whiskers;
- toothed whales, whose diet mainly consists of squid and large fish.
Interesting fact: a whale can survive without food for more than 10 months. In addition, he may not sleep for about 3 months in a row. During sleep in whales, one part of the brain is constantly active. This allows giant mammals, half asleep, to pop up to the surface every now and then to take a breath of air.
It is curious that these sea animals take in such an amount of oxygen (about 2000 liters) in one breath, which allows them to be calmly under water for 2-3 hours. Whales breathe not with their mouth or nose, but with a blowhole located behind the head. And only bowhead whales, exhaling, throw up a powerful jet of water, the height of which can be 6 meters.
The most gigantic representative of cetaceans is considered to be a blue (blue) whale. Its maximum weight is 160 tons, and its body length can reach 30-40 meters. Moreover, females are always larger and more massive than males.
Cubs of cetaceans, being born into the world, can have a body size of up to 8-9 meters. They consume more than 300 liters of breast milk per day. An adult individual consumes up to 8 million calories per day. Interesting fact: whales do not drink sea or other water. They get moisture exclusively from the food they eat.
According to average estimates, there are about 8000 liters of blood in the body of a sea animal. These blue whales have a huge heart, its weight can reach a whole ton. And their tongue weighs at least 4 tons. Its surface can easily accommodate 60-80 people.
Whales have no vocal cords. However, this does not prevent them from singing at all. Some cetacean species make sounds so low that humans are unable to hear them.
Whales have no ears either. They recognize sounds with their sensitive lower jaw. These giants living in the water column have extremely poor eyesight. When the whale goes deep, very greasy tears begin to flow from its small eyes. They protect the eyes from the abundance of sea salts and slightly improve the sight of the mammal.
Whales are completely odorless. In addition, they do not have a developed sense of taste.
The average depth to which the animal is able to descend is 3-4 kilometers. At this moment, the huge heart of the whale begins to beat more slowly. It does not perform more than 10 beats per minute.
Animals that make up the order of cetaceans have different life spans. Some species can live up to 100 years or more.
Another unexpected and curious fact about whales: each individual has a unique tail. It is as unique as a human fingerprint. In addition, the tail for whales plays an important role: with the help of it, mammals are able to move in the water without resorting to the help of fins.
Scientists believe that the closest relative of cetaceans is the hippopotamus. More than 50 million years ago, the ancestors of living whales left the land and into the water.
