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whales
This article is about a marine mammal. For other uses, see Whale (disambiguation).

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Whale
Temporal range: 50–0Ma

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Eocene – Recent North Atlantic right whales, mother and calf

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Eutheria
Order: Cetacea

Whale (origin Old English hwæl from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz) is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea.[1] The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to the suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales). This suborder includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga whale. The other Cetacean suborder, Mysticeti (baleen whales), comprises filter feeders that eat small organisms caught by straining seawater through a comblike structure found in the mouth called baleen. This suborder includes the blue whale, the humpback whale, the bowhead whale and the minke whale. All cetaceans have forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with horizontal flukes, and nasal openings (blowholes) on top of the head.

Whales range in size from the blue whale, the largest animal known to have ever existed[2] at 30 m (98 ft) and 180 tonnes (180 long tons; 200 short tons), to pygmy species such as the pygmy sperm whale at 3.5 m (11 ft). Whales inhabit all the world 's oceans and number in the millions, with annual population growth rate estimates for various species ranging from 3% to 13%.[3] Whales are long-lived, humpback whales living for up to 77 years, while bowhead whales may live for over a century.

Human hunting of whales from the 17th century until 1986 radically reduced the populations of some whale species. Whales have appeared in literature since the time of the Old Testament, play a role in Inuit creation myths, and are revered by coastal people in Ghana and Vietnam.



References: 1.Jump up ^ Brown, Lesley, ed. (2007). Shorter Oxford English Dictionary II (Sixth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University press. p. 3611. 4.Jump up ^ Anon (25 January 2005). "Scientists find missing link between the whale and its closest relative, the hippo". PhysOrg.com. PhysOrg.com. Retrieved 6 May 2010. 6.Jump up ^ Dawkins, Richard (2004). The Ancestor 's Tale, A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-00583-8. 9.Jump up ^ "Beluga Whale". Yellowmagpie.com. 2012-06-27. Retrieved 2013-08-12. 10.Jump up ^ "About Whales". Whalesalive.org.au. 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2013-08-12. 18.Jump up ^ "Milk". Modern Marvels. Season 14. 2008-01-07. The History Channel. 19.^ Jump up to: a b Siebert, Charles (8 July 2009). "Watching Whales Watching Us". New York Times Magazine. 20.Jump up ^ Watson, K.K.; Jones, T.K.; Allman, J.M. (2006). "Dendritic architecture of the Von Economo neurons". Neuroscience 141 (3): 1107–1112. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.04.084. PMID 16797136. 21.Jump up ^ Allman, John M.; Watson, Karli K.; Tetreault, Nicole A.; Hakeem, Atiya Y. (2005). "Intuition and autism: a possible role for Von Economo neurons". Trends Cogn Sci 9 (8): 367–373. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.06.008. PMID 16002323. 22.Jump up ^ Hof, Patrick R.; Van Der Gucht, Estel (2007). "Structure of the cerebral cortex of the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Balaenopteridae)". The Anatomical Record 290 (1): 1–31. doi:10.1002/ar.20407. PMID 17441195. 24.Jump up ^ Miller, P. J. O.; Aoki, K.; Rendell, L. E.; Amano, M. (2008). "Stereotypical resting behavior of the sperm whale". Current Biology 18 (1): R21–R23. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.11.003. PMID 18177706. edit 25.Jump up ^ Anon (2005) 26.Jump up ^ Conroy, Erin (June 2007). "Netted whale hit by lance a century ago". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 32.Jump up ^ Nick Collins (2012-10-22). "Whale learns to mimic human speech". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-10-22. 33.Jump up ^ "Whale poop pumps up ocean health". ScienceDaily. October 12, 2010. Retrieved 2011-11-18. 34.Jump up ^ Roman J, McCarthy JJ (2010). "The Whale Pump: Marine Mammals Enhance Primary Productivity in a Coastal Basin". In Roopnarine, Peter. PLoS ONE 5 (10): e13255. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013255. 36.Jump up ^ Schneider, D.R. (1980). Saving the Whales—A Bwana Doc Adventure. Bwana Doc Adventures. p. 43. ISBN 0-9820776-0-2. 37.Jump up ^ Desonie, Dana (2008). Polar Regions: Human Impacts. Infobase Publishing. p. 154. ISBN 0-8160-6218-8. 39.Jump up ^ Whaling on trial: Vindication!. Greenpeace.org (23 December 2010). Retrieved on 2011-11-18. 40.Jump up ^ The Tuna-Dolphin Issue - SWFSC 41.Jump up ^ Kirby, Alex (8 October 2003) 42.Jump up ^ Piantadosi CA, Thalmann ED (15 April 2004). "Pathology: whales, sonar and decompression sickness". Nature 428 (6894): 716–718. doi:10.1038/nature02527a. PMID 15085881. 44.^ Jump up to: a b c Siebert, Charles (2011). NRDC The Secret World of Whales. illustrated by Molly Baker (illustrated ed.). Chronicle Books. pp. 15–16. ISBN 9781452105741. 47.Jump up ^ Heimlich, Sara; Boran, James (2001). Killer Whales. Voyageur Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0896585454. 57.Jump up ^ French, Philip; Bradshaw, Peter (2003). "Whale Rider". (two reviews). The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2013. 58.Jump up ^ And God Created Great Whales (1970) for Orchestra and Whale Songs Artist direct (Retrieved 10 October 2007) 59.Jump up ^ Living Music Missa Gaia – Creation of Earth Mass

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