Whales are large ocean mammals that breathe air through a blowhole. They are highly intelligent and have an elaborate social life.
Whales belong to the order of Cetacea. Like all mammals, whales breath air and are warm blooded. They also nurse their young like land mammals.
Anatomy
The body of a whale is shaped like fish. A whale's front flippers contains bones similar to our arms and hands. The rear flippers, called flukes, have no bones in them at all. A whale's lungs absorb up to 90% of the oxygen they breathe, thus enabling them to go for long periods without coming up for air. When a whale dives the heart starts to beat more slowly and arteries constrict. A Sperm whale can go for 80 to 90 minutes between breaths. Blubber holds the whale's body heat in, keeping them from freezing to death.
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References
Fast Facts
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Kingdom
Animalia
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Phylum
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Class
Mammalia
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Subclass
Eutheria
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Order
Cetacea
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Fact:
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Believed to have moved from land to sea 50 million years ago BBC: How whales learned to swim (May 8, 2002)
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Blue whales are the largest mammals on the planet
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Blue whales have 2 blow holes
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Whales typically eat krill
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There are 79 different species of whales
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Whales have blubber to insulate them from the cold ocean
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A group of whales is called a pod
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Unlike fish, whales swim by moving their tails vertically
