Coincidentally tuned into a documentary programme about whales on the National Geographic channel recently. Although it was merely an hour long programme, but it's sufficient to trigger my INTERESTS into knowing more bout these warm-blooded mammals living on earth. I have then done a little bit of research on that too and here I'm to compile all of my knowledge on WHALES in this entry :)The whales, dolphins and porpoises fall under the order of Cetacea.
Cetaceans are the mammals who live their entire life in the water. The whales are said to be the closest living relatives of hippos as they were in fact evolved from a common ancestor at around 54 million years ago; and the whale entered the water about 50 million years ago.
There are almost 80 species of cetaceans, which can be divided into two sub-orders; and they are distinct from one another from the structure and function of the mouths:A. Toothed whales (Odontoceti)
Most of the Odontocetes have teeth that are uniform in shape. Some odontocetes, such as the Sperm Whale, have teeth only in the lower jaw; whilst the Dolphins bearing over 100 teeth in their jaws. They are the active hunters, feeding on fish, squid, and other marine mammals, swallowing them whole.
Toothed whales has a SINGLE blowhole (nostril) on top of their head and use echolocation (by emitting sound waves and listening to the echo in order to locate objects or navigate) to hunt. They are about 66 species of toothed whales, including the Killer Whales (Ocra).
Generally, toothed whales live in groups of up to a dozen animals. These groups, called pods or schools, occasionally merge to form "superpods", aggregations of up to thousands of whales. Toothed whales are capable of complex interactions, such as cooperative hunting. In captivity, some species display a high potential for learning; for this reason they are considered being among the most intelligent animals.
B. Baleen Whales (Mysticeti) 
The Baleen Whales do not have teeth, instead they have the baleen (a comb-like structure which act as a filter) that sieve tiny crustaceans, small fish, and other tiny organisms in the water.
Baleen whales are generally larger than toothed whales, and females are larger than males. This group comprises the largest living animal species, the Blue Whales. Baleen have TWO blowholes, causing a V-shaped blow. They are about 14 species of Baleen Whales, including the Fin Whale, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, Right Whales,Bowhead Whales and Gray Whales.
Even though they are massive in size, the Baleen whales are able to leap completely out of the water (this is called 'Breaching'). Further, unlike the toothed whales, the Mysticeti do not know to echo-locate. Instead they are able to produce high volume sounds in the infrasonic range (the Whale song). The calls of the largest whales can be heard several hundred kilometres away. In particularly the Humpback Whales, they have the unique songs consisting of complex sequences which may slowly evolve over years - which are probably used for courting.
Like all mammals, the whales...
...breathe air into lungs;
...are warm-blooded (maintaining high blood temperature);
...have hairs (though their hairs are far less than the land-mammals, and almost none as adult);
...feed their young milk from mammary glands;
...have four-chambered heart.
Whales are widely classed as predators, but their food ranges from microscopic plankton to very large fish. Males are called bulls; females, cows. The young are called calves.
Because of their environment (and unlike many animals), whales are conscious breathers: they decide when to breathe (through the blowholes). Smaller whales can remain submerged for several minutes; however, the Sperm Whale can dive for up to two hours.
All mammals sleep, including whales, but they cannot afford to fall into an unconscious state for too long, since they need to be conscious in order to breathe. It is thought that only one hemisphere of their brains sleeps at a time, so that whales are never completely asleep, but still get the rest they need. Whales are thought to sleep around 8 hours a day.
Female whales usually become pregnant between spring and fall. The gestation (pregnancy) period normally ranges from 9 to 12 months, although some toothed whale species, including the Sperm Whale, carry their young up to 16 months. Most whales give birth to one calf, though twins are not unknown. Calves, of course, vary in size and weight. Blue Whale offspring can reach up to 23 ft. in length and weigh as much as 8 tons, making them the largest newborns in the world.
At birth the newborn is delivered tail-first, so the risk of drowning is minimized. Calves are born with their eyes open, alert senses and enough swimming skills to follow their mothers immediately. A female whale has two nipples and produces large amounts of milk after giving birth. The largest baleen whales, Blues, can produce as much as 160 gallons of milk a day, and calves may double their weight in the first week. Lactation or nursing periods are variable, usually lasting about a year. According to a German naturalist Dieffenbach, the milk bears great similarities to cow's milk, except with a much higher concentration of fat. Biologists compare the consistency of whale milk to cottage cheese; it must be thick, or else it will dissipate into the surrounding water.
SIZE
Blue Whale
The Blue Whales are the largest and loudest animal that has ever existed on Earth. It is larger than any of the dinosaurs were. They can grow up to 33 metres (110 feet) in length and 181 metric tonnes or more in weight. Their tongues weight about 4 tonnes, as per an elephant; and their eyes are as big as a cup of tea. These enormous mammals eat about 4 tonnes of tiny krill each day.
The smallest whale is the Dwarf Sperm Whale which as an adult is only about 2.6 m (8.5 feet) long.
Whilst the fish swim by moving their tails left and right, the whales swim by moving their muscular tail (flukes) UP and DOWN.
The Inconvenient Truth - WHALING
Some species of large whales are endangered as a result of large scale of commercial whaling, which are often targeted at large and slow moving whales. They have been hunted for oil, meat, baleen and ambergris (a perfume ingredient from the intestine of sperm whales).
The Japanese started whaling since the 12th century while the United States' whaling history back dated to the 18th/19th centuries.
Despite the efforts put forward by the International Whaling Commission since late 1946, the modern whaling still continues at various parts of the world across the Atlantic Ocean, mainly for the purpose of protein source; which includes Japan, United States, Canada, Caribbean, Faroe Island, Iceland, Greenland, Indonesia, Norway and Russia. "Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action." This independent global campaigning organisation was established to change the attitudes and behaviour, as well as to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace - and one of their efforts is to prevent commercial whaling.
I think this should be a joint effort rather than a one-man show. They certainly need more supports from the public in order to pursue their missions further. The simplest thing we can do is to say 'NO' to anything that's related to these extinct animals, may it be the whales or the shakes... When there is no market consumption, there shall be no killing of the extinct animals. Well, at least, we should be able to draw a declining scale on graph in the total deaths of those animals.
!! STOP WHALING !!
Main Sources: WilkipediaWhales Behaviours
