1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:
ORDER CETACEA
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Spend entire lives at sea
Stream-lined bodies (convergent evolution)

2. Breathe air through blowhole

3. Front flippers; tail = “fluke”

4. Blubber for insulation
Slow reproductive rate; 1 calf / 2-3 years
Beluga & Calf

5. MYSTICETI (BALEEN WHALES)
“Moustached” – baleen plates hang from upper lip
Flexible, fibrous plates of keratin to strain water

6. Baleen

7. Baleen Whale
The images above show a cross section through the head of a generalized baleen whale where the baleen appears yellow, pink areas are the tongue and associated muscles, black dots represent food items. Water and food pours into the mouth as the mouth is opened (left); the mouth is shut part way, the tongue is expanded to push out the water, while food items, unable to escape through the baleen, are trapped (right).

8. Eat krill, small fish, crustaceans

9. 2 Blowhole openings

10. Rorquals – grooves along throat/chest to expand
Ex: humpback, finback

11. Humpbacks Feeding

12. Humpbacks
Size: ft

13. Body black, often w/barnacles
Flippers to 15 ft; white underneath; used to ID

14. Behaviors:
Breaching

15. Flipper Slapping

16. Lob-tailing

17. Feeding with Bubble Net
Whales swim in circle blowing bubbles trapping fish inside “net”, then swim up center

18. Swim through school & engulf food & water
Lunge Feeding
Swim through school & engulf food & water

20. Known for elaborate songs

21. “Greyhounds of the Sea” – to 20mph
Lifespan yrs
2nd Largest animal on Earth – to 85 ft

23. Fin Whale Distribution

24. Blue Whale
Largest animal; 100 ft

25. Person standing between blue whale jaw bones

26. Blue Whale

27. Blue Whale Range

28. Right Whale
Carcasses float; slow
“Upside-down smile”
Most endangered
Size: to ft

30. ODONTOCETI (TOOTHED WHALES)
Teeth to catch & hold prey; swallowed whole
Eat fish, squid, seals

31. Single blowhole opening

32. Often travel in pods

33. Ex: SPERM WHALE
Largest toothed whale (40-60ft); feed on Giant Squid; dive deep

36. Orca or Killer Whale
Spyhopping

40. Dolphins: beak & conical teeth
Porpoises: blunt head & flat teeth

41. Echolocation
Sounds sent from sacs in head (melon)
Received through jaw to inner ear (like SONAR)
Used for navigation, socialization, predation