1. The blue whale is the largest animal to ever live on earth, larger than the dinosaurs! 2. The bowhead whale lives in the most specialized habitat of all the baleen whales, the shallow seas of the Arctic. 3. The gray whale is the only baleen whale that sucks in ocean sediment to filter gammarid… [read more]
Archives for January 2010
Baleen whales: an introduction
Baleen whales belong to the scientific suborder Mysticeti and include some of the largest animals to ever live on earth. This impressive group of whales encompass a broad range of preferred types of habits, habitats, migration patterns, food, communication and lifestyles. But they are all united by the same feeding strategy of using a “highly-specialized… [read more]
Top 5 reasons baleen is cool
1. It’s like having a mustache in your mouth. 2. No need for a fancy sonicare toothbrush. 3. No need for a salad spinner, just filter excess water out. 4. It constantly grows just like hair and finger nails. 5. It’s in a whale’s mouth and everything about a whale is cool.
Baleen: what some whales use instead of teeth
There are two types of whales: baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti). And you might have deduced from this statement that baleen is what some whales use instead of teeth. Baleen is made of keratin, the same protein found in human hair and fingernails. And just like our hair and fingernails, baleen is constantly… [read more]
Balance: the inner ear of whales
Everyone is talking about balance these days, work/life balance, nutritional balance, balance balls, the need for more balance in day to day life, but little is mentioned about the very important vital sense organ that keeps you truly balanced: the inner ear. Without a functioning inner ear your world would be spinning out of control… [read more]
Baiji: Yangtze River dolphin RIP
Drawing of the extinct Yangtze River dolphin The “B” section of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals has taken us to a very sad place. The baiji, also referred to as the Yangtze River dolphin, is extinct. Now this isn’t a prehistoric dolphin that died out thousands of years ago, this freshwater dolphin lived to see… [read more]
Baculum: the penis bone
Walrus baculum, 22 inches long The “B” section of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals launches with an article by Edward Miller on the baculum. The baculum is a bone located in the penis of several species. For marine mammals this includes polar bears, sea otters, seals, sea lions and walruses. Bacula (plural of baculum) come… [read more]
Azorean Whaling
Sao Jorge Island, part of the Azores This is the last post for the “A” section of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals and so the A’s end with an article about Azorean whaling by Richard Ellis. Azorean whaling took place along the shores of the Azores, as you might have already guessed, a set of nine… [read more]
Australian Snubfin Dolphin
The Australian snubfin dolphin or Orcaella heinsohni is a curious creature indeed. According to the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, this dolphin used to be considered an irrawady dolphin, but after much analysis and noticeable differences in color, skull shapes and body shapes scientists determined that the Australian snubfin dolphin is a separate species and was officially declared… [read more]
Australian sea lion
What better way to kick off 2010 than with a post about the Australian sea lion, “one of the world’s rarest and most unusual seals?” A direct quote from the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Although, technically a sea lion is not a true seal. Seals and sea lions both belong to the scientific suborder Pinnipedia… [read more]