Whales

 
 
 
 

Sperm Whale	Humpback Whale
Killer Whale	Blue Whale

    There are 11 types of baleen whales. Only  two of which are under 45 feet long! They eat of mostly krill.(a tiny shrimp-like creature) At one time baleen whales may swallow more than one ton of krill! You may have seen a humpback whale or a blue whale. These whales and many others have tiny white splots all over them. These white splots are called barnacles. Barnacles are hard shelled creatures that attach themselves to underwater animals.
 
 

     There are 66 species of toothed whales. The largest of which is the Sperm whale. The toothed whales swim faster and stay under water longer than that of baleen whales. Their favorite food is makeral, herring, and squid. Most likely you thought that whales chew their food?! Well, they don't. They use them to capture their food. Toothed whales only get one set of teeth. Much like humans.

   Here are two species of baleen whales and two species of toothed whales:
 
 

The Blue Whale is the largest mammal. They can grow to be 100 feet long and weigh more than 175,000 lbs. A blue whale calf may be larger than a full grown elephant. A calf may drink 100 liters of milk a day. The blue whale like many other baleen whales feed on krill.(a shrimp-like creature) They spend the summer feeding within pods and at the end of the summer may weigh 300,000 lbs. Pods or clans may contain one to five whales. The enemies include the Killer Whale and the sharks of the oceans. The population of the blue whale ranges from 6,000 to 14,000.

The Humpback Whale can grow to be 50 feet long and can weigh up to 30 tons. They are fast swimmers. They eat like, other baleen whales, krill and other small fish. The lifespan of a humpback whale is about 30 years or more. They live in pods of around 15 whales. During the mating season the males "sing" a beautiful song to attract the females. The humpback population is somewhat larger than the blue whales ranging from 12,000 to 15,000.

The Killer Whale is one of the most majestic creatures on earth. Growing from 23 to 40 feet long and weighing 9,000 to 14,000 lbs. It is able to breach, or jump, into the air gracefully. A Killer Whale may swim up to 34 mph, but normally doesn't go above 10. They eat fish, other whales, and birds or anything that comes in it's range. Habitat destruction is one of the leading causes for the killing of the killer whales.

The Sperm Whale is the largest toothed whale. They grow up to 60 feet long. They may weigh up to 50 tons! When beached, the sperm whale's internal organs are crushed due to its massive size. Sperm whales are champion divers going down to depths of 3,000 feet. They can stay underwater 90 minutes. They eat squid and small fish. The pods contain 1 to 150 sperm whales.

This page was created by Kayla S. and Haylee K.

This page created 3/22/99  updated 3/22/99 mah