|
|
|
HELPING TO PROTECT THE FUTURE
|
|
| Welcome to Help A Whale |
Rorquals, the most familiar of the large
whales, have large, pouchlike throats with furrows running from mouth
to belly. The family includes the humpback whale, the sei whale, the
minke whale, the Bryde's whale, the fin whale (or common rorqual), and
the blue whale, which can grow to a length of 100 ft (30 m) and a weight
of 150 tons.Baleen whales are large species, usually over 33 ft (10 m)
long. They are filter feeders, living on shrimplike krill, plankton, and
small fish. They lack teeth but have brushlike sheets of a horny material
called baleen, or whalebone, edging the roof of the mouth. With these
strainers and their enormous tongues, tons of food can be separated from
seawater. Baleen whales have narrow throats and paired blowholes. Male
humpbacks produce a repeated pattern of sounds called a song during the
mating season; the purpose is not clear, as all males in a group sing basically
the same song.
|
|
This site is dedicated to saving the world's
whales.
|
|
