A Few Interesting Facts About The Whale

Some interesting facts about the whale are needed whenever people begin to consider this endlessly fascinating and warm-blooded, ocean-dwelling mammal. Whales are extremely diverse and live in every ocean and sea in the world. Biologists and other scientists have studied them for many years and have found that they also exist within a complex structure of their own making. When discussing their evolution, it always comes as a surprise to those who don’t know about whales that their closest living relative is the hippopotamus. Both animals descended from a common ancestor that lived in India, in Kashmir, over 54 million years in the past.

This ancestor finally entered the ocean for good nearly 50 million years ago. Whales communicate with each other in a variety of ways, the most common probably being what is known as whale song. This particular “singing” has proven to be extremely diverse and complex in quality and characteristic. Whales use it in a variety of ways. Also, other than certain species of primates, whales — along with dolphins, humans and elephants — whales seem to be one of the few species that are self-aware. The societal structure of whales is also complex. Existing in a group of whales known as a pod, males, females and calves arrange themselves in certain types of hierarchies that usually involve a pod being led by a single dominant bull — which is the term for a male of the species — cows (females) and calves (young whales).

Non-dominant bulls live on the edges of the pod and may strike out on their own, eventually. When it comes to sheer size, it is a species of whale — the Blue — that is the largest animal to have ever existed as well as being the largest mammal currently in existence. The Blue can come in at over 150 tons and 105 feet in length. There are two sub orders of whales, also; baleen and toothed. Baleen whales get their food (plankton and krill) by straining seawater through their mouth (the baleen). Toothed whales are considered to be predators, with the most well-known probably being the Orca or killer whale. It wasn’t until the last 50 years or so that the whale has been looked at as more than just a convenient food source or commodity.

Some species of whales have been so completely over-hunted that they are in danger of extinction if steps aren’t taken to protect them.