Whales

Did You Know?

• The Blue Whale's heart is the size of a small car, its tongue the size of an African Elephant, and its major artery, the aorta, is large enough for a small child to climb through.
• Whales do not mate for life, although they may stick with one partner for several successive calves.
• A single breath from a Blue Whale adult is enough to inflate 2000 balloons.
• Bowhead whales break ice with their heads and thus have an unusually thick skull.
• There has never been a report of twin calves of the larger whale species surviving.
• The Narwhal whale has a tooth protruding from its lip, often reaching impressive lengths. These animals may have been the basis of the unicorn legend.
• A Southern Right calf can drink about 200 litres of milk every day.
• The fastest whales can travel at speeds of up to 55km per hour.
• The Sperm Whale blasts air from its blowhole at an angle, unlike other species that blow this air straight up.
• The Humpback Whale's flipper can grow to over 5m in length. Whales use their powerful tails (or flukes) to propel their enormous bodies through the water, and their flippers to help them to twist, turn and change direction. The dorsal fin is used stabilise the whale.
• Right Whales are identified by the pattern of their callosities, which is made up of rough skin, whale lice and barnacles.
• Humpbacks were the first whales known to sing. While other species have been found to share this ability and use it as a lure for prospective mates, the Humpbacks’ songs remain the most complex and varied.
• The Sperm Whale can dive to a depth of about 10 000 feet in search of food. The amount of pressure that the body undergoes at this depth is immense.
• While there is no concrete evidence to support this theory, the most recent land ancestor of the whale is thought to be the hippopotamus.
• There are only an estimated 300 Northern Right Whales left in the ocean, which makes them one of the most endangered whale species alive today.
• Every time a Blue Whale draws water into its mouth for feeding, it is holding approximately 256 000 glasses of water in its mouth. This water is strained through their baleen plates and is not swallowed.
• Although it is rare, researchers have discovered cross-breeding in whales, particularly between Blue Whales and Fin Whales.
• Northern Right Whales and New England Humpbacks are particularly susceptible to entrapment by fishing gear and over 50% of the whales seen have scars bearing testimony to this sad fact.
• Sperm Whales not only use their echolocation or sonar to find and catch prey, but also to stun their target.
• Sperm Whales are so loyal to their families and pod members that they have been known to follow a beached matriarch onto shore, usually resulting in their own death.
• Southern Right Whales have been seen raising their tails out of the water when the wind is strong to use them as sails.
• Gray Whales are able to swim in water that is only 6 feet deep.

Look through our other pages to discover more interesting facts about whales.