1. The first types of prey that many cetaceans prefer are tiny critters that form large schools closer to the surface. This includes several types of crustaceans (krill) and small fish (sardines, anchovies). And ironically enough, the largest whales prefer this type of dinner and have a built-in filter system called baleen that allows them… [read more]
Last call for gray whale watching!
Attention to all those living in the Los Angeles area we are entering the last two weeks of gray whale watch season! So if you want to get out and see some whales now is the time to do it. March 20th was the annual Ultimate Whale Watch trip sponsored by the American Cetacean Society’s… [read more]
Callosities: blemishes or beauty marks?
Callosities (from the word callus) are natural skin bumps found on the head of right whales. Most of the time it’s pretty tough to see these bumps because they are usually surrounded by whale lice. But if you look really closely at the photo you can see the dark gray bumps sticking up through the… [read more]
9 noteworthy Bryde’s whale tidbits
1. The name Bryde’s is actually pronounced in a way that sounds like “brutus,” so if you hear someone say the brutus whale, they are talking about the Bryde’s whale. 2. Bryde’s whales have the distinction of being the “least known of the large baleen whales,” according to the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. There is… [read more]
Big brains in marine mammals
Brains, beautiful brains. The Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals has quite a bit to say about marine mammal brains, including a few fun facts. Did you know that a killer whale brain weighs five times as much as a human brain? And that baleen whales have the largest brains in the animal kingdom? Pretty interesting. And… [read more]
Bowhead whales
Bowhead whales hang out most of the year in the Arctic and don’t seem to mind dealing with sea ice at all. They have become experts at dealing with an extreme environment and are able to break through close to two feet of ice and dive up to an hour, giving them time to find… [read more]
5 fun facts about baleen whales
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]
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]