Difference between revisions of "Whale"

Whale
Scientific classification
	Kingdom Information
Domain	Eukaryota
Kingdom	Animalia
Subkingdom	Bilateria
Branch	Deuterostomia
	Phylum Information
Superphylum	Chordata
Phylum	Vertebrata
Infraphylum	Gnathostomata
	Class Information
Superclass	Tetrapoda
Class	Mammalia
Sub-class	Theriiformes
Infra-class	Holotheria
	Order Information
Order	Cetacea
Population statistics

Revision as of 22:45, May 7, 2013

Whales are marine mammals of the order Cetacea.

Description

Whales are separated into the toothed whales, Odontocetes (which includes dolphins, porpoises, narwhals, beaked whales and sperm whales), and the whalebone, or baleen, whales, also called Mysticetes. The latter are mostly very large, which, instead of teeth, have baleen (whalebone) to filter small prey from the water; they are what people generally think of when the word whale is used. The whalebone whales include the rorquals - the blue whale, fin whale, sei whale, Bryde's whale, minke whale, and humpback whale; the grey whale; and the various right whales.

Although whales are famed for the massive size reached by some species, such as the blue whale (the largest animal to ever live), others are relatively small, like the pygmy right whale which grows to about 20 feet^[1]. Though whales have many traits in common with fish (including fins and tails) they are classified as mammals under the Linnaean taxonomy classification system because they breathe air and lactate. Whales have a number of remarkable features including:

they decide when to breathe, rather than breathing unconsciously
they sleep 8 hours a day, yet need to be conscious to breathe
they can communicate with each other by making remarkably loud noises
these extraordinary noises can travel for miles under water
the females nurse their calves while swimming underwater
the males have a unique cooling system for their internal reproductive organs, involving the circulation of cooled blood from the extremities directly around the testes before returning to the heart
whales, along with humans and horses, are some of the few mammal species that do not possess baculum (penile bone)
mysticetes have two blow-holes, while odontocetes only have one
the blow-holes pass air above water, yet resist intense pressure underwater
they have massive brains, much larger than the brains of other mammals

Taxonomy

There are two kinds of whales: toothed whales of the suborder Odontoceti, and whalebone (baleen) whales of the suborder Mysticeti.

Suborder Mysticeti: Baleen whales

Family Balaenidae: Right whales

Genus Balaena

Bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus

Genus Eubalaena

North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis

North Pacific right whale, Eubalaena japonica

Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis

Family Balaenopteridae: Rorquals

Subfamily Balaenopterinae

Genus Balaenoptera

Antarctic minke whale, Balaenoptera bonaerensis

Common minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata

Bryde's whale, Balaenoptera brydei

Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus

Fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus

Sei whale, Balaenoptera borealis

Subfamily Megapterinae

Genus Megaptera

Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae

Family Eschrichtiidae

Genus Eschrichtius

Gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus

Family Neobalaenidae

Genus Caperea

Pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata

Suborder Odontoceti: Toothed whales

Family Monodontidae

Genus Delphinapterus

Beluga, Delphinapterus leucas

Genus Monodon

Narwhal, Monodon monoceros

Family Physeteridae: Sperm whales

Genus Physeter

Sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus

Genus Kogia

Dwarf sperm whale, Kogia sima

Pygmy sperm whale, Kogia breviceps

Family Ziphidae: Beaked whales

Genus Berardius

Arnoux's beaked whale, Berardius arnuxii

Baird's beaked whale, Berardius bairdii

Subfamily Hyperoodontidae

Genus Hyperoodon

Northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus

Southern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon planifrons

Genus Indopacetus

Indo-Pacific beaked whale, Indopacetus pacificus

Genus Mesoplodon

Andrews' beaked whale, Mesoplodon bowdoini

Blainville's beaked whale, Mesoplodon densirostris

Gervais' beaked whale, Mesoplodon europaeus

Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale, Mesoplodon ginkgodens

Gray's beaked whale, Mesoplodon grayi

Hector's beaked whale, Mesoplodon hectori

Hubbs' beaked whale, Mesoplodon carlhubbsi

Perrin's beaked whale, Mesoplodon perrini

Pygmy beaked whale, Mesoplodon peruvianus

Sowerby's beaked whale, Mesoplodon bidens

Spade-toothed whale, Mesoplodon traversii

Stejneger's beaked whale, Mesoplodon stejnegeri

Strap-toothed whale, Mesoplodon layardii

True's beaked whale, Mesoplodon mirus

Genus Tasmacetus

Shepherd's beaked whale, Tasmacetus shepherdi

Genus Ziphius

Cuvier's beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris

Family Delphinidae

Family Phocoenidae

Origins

The question of how whales and their relatives could have evolved from terrestrial mammals has taxed evolutionary biologists since Darwin's suggestion that they may have evolved from ancient bears.

"In North America the black bear was seen . . . swimming for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the water. Even in so extreme a case as this, if the supply of insects were constant, and if better adapted competitors did not already exist in the country, I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale."

^[2]

In more recent times molecular and fossil evidence has been used to suggest that modern whales and their relatives arose from ancient artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates) with the closest living relative of all whales being hippopotami.^[3] This kinship has been termed the whippo hypothesis.^[4] Evolutionary biologists estimate the last ancestor of whales and hippos lived about 25 million years ago^[5]. This theory of cetacean origins contrasts with the young earth creationist position that whales were created about 6000 years ago, before land animals .^[6]^[7]^[8]

Whaling industry

Bradford, Icebound Whaling Ship.

See: Whaling

Whales in literature

The Bible

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17 (KJV)

The great fish that swallowed Jonah is often thought of as being a whale, although the translation of 'great fish' is not a precise designation of species but may indicate any physically large, ocean-going creature. The physical difficulty of having a human be swallowed by a whale and survive the intense pressure of diving, lack of air and acidic environment of the stomach, and the fact that the Bible says that God "prepared" the fish has led some to suggest the creature may be uniquely and specially prepared by God for the purpose. Alternatively, Jonah may have been simply protected by supernatural means.

Whales are mentioned in three other places in the King James Version of the Bible:

Genesis 1:21: "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
Job 7:12: "Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?"
Ezekiel 32:2: "Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

Fiction

Arguably the most famous book about whales is Herman Melville's Moby Dick, about a whaling-ship captain obsessed with hunting down the sperm whale (Moby Dick) which had bitten off one of his legs.

References

↑ [1]American Cetacean Society website
↑ Charles Darwin, Origin of species 1st edition
↑ [2] Theodore, JM (2004) Molecular Clock Divergence Estimates And The Fossil Record Of Cetartiodactyla The Journal Of Paleontology 78:39-44
↑ http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1999/15619/15619-10.pdf
↑ [3] UCLA Berkley Understanding Evolution for Teachers website
↑ Sarfati, Jonathan Whale evolution? Refuting Evolution, Chapter 5.
↑ Batten, Don, A whale of a tale? Journal of Creation 8(1):2–3, April 1994.
↑ Williams, Alexander, and Sarfati, Jonathan, Not at all like a whale, Creation 27(2):20–22, March 2005.

[1] [1]American Cetacean Society website

[2] Charles Darwin, Origin of species 1st edition

[3] [2] Theodore, JM (2004) Molecular Clock Divergence Estimates And The Fossil Record Of Cetartiodactyla The Journal Of Paleontology 78:39-44

[4] ttp://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1999/15619/15619-10.pdf

[5] [3] UCLA Berkley Understanding Evolution for Teachers website

[6] Sarfati, Jonathan Whale evolution? Refuting Evolution, Chapter 5.

[7] Batten, Don, A whale of a tale? Journal of Creation 8(1):2–3, April 1994.

[8] Williams, Alexander, and Sarfati, Jonathan, Not at all like a whale, Creation 27(2):20–22, March 2005.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 == Description ==
-Whales are separated into the toothed whales (which includes [[dolphin]]s, [[porpoise]]s, [[narwhal]]s, [[beaked whale]]s and [[sperm whale]]s), and the whalebone, or baleen, whales. The latter are mostly very large, which, instead of teeth, have baleen (whalebone) to filter small prey from the water; they are what people generally think of when the word whale is used. The whalebone whales include the rorquals - the [[blue whale]], fin whale, sei whale, Bryde's whale, [[minke whale]], [[grey whale]]; the [[humpback whale]]; and the various [[right whale]]s.
+Whales are separated into the toothed whales, ''Odontocetes'' (which includes [[dolphin]]s, [[porpoise]]s, [[narwhal]]s, beaked whales and [[sperm whale]]s), and the whalebone, or baleen, whales, also called ''Mysticetes''. The latter are mostly very large, which, instead of teeth, have baleen (whalebone) to filter small prey from the water; they are what people generally think of when the word whale is used. The whalebone whales include the rorquals - the [[blue whale]], fin whale, sei whale, Bryde's whale, [[minke whale]], and humpback whale; the [[grey whale]]; and the various [[right whale]]s.
 Although whales are famed for the massive size reached by some species, such as the blue whale (the largest animal to ever live), others are relatively small, like the pygmy right whale which grows to about 20 feet<ref>[http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/PygmyRightWhale.htm]American Cetacean Society website</ref>.  Though whales have  many traits in common with fish (including fins and tails) they are [[classification system|classified]] as [[mammal|mammals]] under the [[Linnaean taxonomy]] classification system because they breathe air and lactate. Whales have a number of remarkable features including:
@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 * these extraordinary noises can travel for miles under water
 * the females nurse their calves while swimming underwater
-* the males have a unique cooling system for their internal reproductive organs
+* the males have a unique cooling system for their internal reproductive organs, involving the circulation of cooled blood from the extremities directly around the [[testes]] before returning to the [[heart]]
 * whales, along with humans and horses, are some of the few mammal species that do not possess [[baculum]] (penile bone)
-* some have two blow-holes, but others only have one
+* mysticetes have two blow-holes, while odontocetes only have one
 * the blow-holes pass air above water, yet resist intense pressure underwater
 * they have massive brains, much larger than the brains of other mammals
-=== Taxonomy ===
+== Taxonomy ==
 There are two kinds of whales: toothed whales of the suborder Odontoceti, and whalebone (baleen) whales of the suborder Mysticeti.
-*'''Suborder Mysticeti: Baleen whales'''
+*'''Suborder ''Mysticeti'': Baleen whales'''
-::'''Family Balaenidae: Right whales'''
+::'''Family ''Balaenidae'': Right whales'''
 ::::Genus ''Balaena''
 :::::Bowhead whale, ''Balaena mysticetus''
-::::Genus Eubalaena''
+::::Genus ''Eubalaena''
 :::::North Atlantic right whale, ''Eubalaena glacialis''
 :::::North Pacific right whale, ''Eubalaena japonica''
 :::::Southern right whale, ''Eubalaena australis''
-::'''Family Balaenopteridae: Rorquals'''
+::'''Family ''Balaenopteridae'': Rorquals'''
-:::Subfamily Balaenopterinae
+:::Subfamily ''Balaenopterinae''
 ::::Genus ''Balaenoptera''
 :::::Antarctic minke whale, ''Balaenoptera bonaerensis''
@@ Line 79: / Line 79: @@
 :::::Fin whale, ''Balaenoptera physalus''
 :::::Sei whale, ''Balaenoptera borealis''
-:::Subfamily Megapterinae
+:::Subfamily ''Megapterinae''
 ::::Genus ''Megaptera''
 :::::Humpback whale, ''Megaptera novaeangliae''
@@ Line 85: / Line 85: @@
 ::::Genus ''Eschrichtius''
 :::::Gray whale, ''Eschrichtius robustus''
-::'''Family Neobalaenidae'''
+::'''Family ''Neobalaenidae'''''
 ::::Genus ''Caperea''
 :::::Pygmy right whale, ''Caperea marginata''
-*'''Suborder Odontoceti: Toothed whales'''
+*'''Suborder ''Odontoceti'': Toothed whales'''
-::'''Family Monodontidae'''
+::'''Family ''Monodontidae'''''
 ::::Genus ''Delphinapterus''
 :::::Beluga, ''Delphinapterus leucas''
 ::::Genus ''Monodon''
 :::::Narwhal, ''Monodon monoceros''
-::'''Family Physeteridae: Sperm whales'''
+::'''Family ''Physeteridae'': Sperm whales'''
 ::::Genus ''Physeter''
 :::::Sperm whale, ''Physeter macrocephalus''
@@ Line 104: / Line 104: @@
 :::::Arnoux's beaked whale, ''Berardius arnuxii''
 :::::Baird's beaked whale, ''Berardius bairdii''
-:::Subfamily Hyperoodontidae
+:::Subfamily ''Hyperoodontidae''
 ::::Genus ''Hyperoodon''
 :::::Northern bottlenose whale, ''Hyperoodon ampullatus''
@@ Line 129: / Line 129: @@
 ::::Genus ''Ziphius''
 :::::Cuvier's beaked whale, ''Ziphius cavirostris''
+::'''Family ''Delphinidae'''''
+::'''Family ''Phocoenidae'''''
 == Origins ==
-[[File:Whale_evolution.jpg]]The question of how whales and their relatives could have evolved from terrestrial [[mammal]]s has taxed evolutionary biologists since [[Charles Darwin|Darwin's]] suggestion that they may have evolved from ancient bears. <blockquote>"In North America the black bear was seen . . . swimming for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the water. Even in so extreme a case as this, if the supply of insects were constant, and if better adapted competitors did not already exist in the country, I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale."</blockquote><ref>Charles Darwin, [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1228 Origin of species] 1st edition </ref>
+The question of how whales and their relatives could have evolved from terrestrial [[mammal]]s has taxed evolutionary biologists since [[Charles Darwin|Darwin's]] suggestion that they may have evolved from ancient bears. <blockquote>"In North America the black bear was seen . . . swimming for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the water. Even in so extreme a case as this, if the supply of insects were constant, and if better adapted competitors did not already exist in the country, I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale."</blockquote><ref>Charles Darwin, [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1228 Origin of species] 1st edition </ref>
 In more recent times molecular and fossil evidence has been used to suggest that modern whales and their relatives arose from ancient [[Artiodactyla|artiodactyls]] (even-toed ungulates) with the closest living relative of all whales being [[hippopotamus|hippopotami]].<ref>[http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/41080/molecular_clock_divergence_estimates_and_the_fossil_record_of_cetartiodactyla/index.html] Theodore, JM (2004) Molecular Clock Divergence Estimates And The Fossil Record Of Cetartiodactyla <i> The Journal Of Paleontology</i> <b>78</b>:39-44</ref>
 This kinship has been termed the whippo hypothesis.<ref>http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1999/15619/15619-10.pdf</ref>
-Evolutionary biologists estimate the last ancestor of whales and hippos lived about 25 million years ago,<ref>  [http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/lines/IAtransitional.shtml] UCLA Berkley Understanding Evolution for Teachers website</ref> which contrasts with the [[Young earth creationism|young earth creationist]] position that whales were [[creation|created]] about 6000 years ago, ''before'' land animals .<ref>Sarfati, Jonathan [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3834/106/ Whale evolution?] ''Refuting Evolution'', Chapter 5.</ref><ref>Batten, Don, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1776 A whale of a tale?] ''Journal of Creation'' 8(1):2–3, April 1994.</ref><ref>Williams, Alexander, and Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1862 Not at all like a whale], ''Creation'' 27(2):20–22, March 2005.</ref>
+Evolutionary biologists estimate the last ancestor of whales and hippos lived about 25 million years ago<ref>  [http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/lines/IAtransitional.shtml] UCLA Berkley Understanding Evolution for Teachers website</ref>. This theory of cetacean origins contrasts with the [[Young earth creationism|young earth creationist]] position that whales were [[creation|created]] about 6000 years ago, ''before'' land animals .<ref>Sarfati, Jonathan [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3834/106/ Whale evolution?] ''Refuting Evolution'', Chapter 5.</ref><ref>Batten, Don, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1776 A whale of a tale?] ''Journal of Creation'' 8(1):2–3, April 1994.</ref><ref>Williams, Alexander, and Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1862 Not at all like a whale], ''Creation'' 27(2):20–22, March 2005.</ref>
 ==Whaling industry==
@@ Line 166: / Line 168: @@
 * Ellis, Richard.  ''Men and Whales.'' (1991). 542 pp.
 * Papastavrou, Vassili. ''Whale'' (DK Eyewitness Books) (2004) [http://www.amazon.com/Whale-Eyewitness-Books-Vassili-Papastavrou/dp/0756607396/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226789849&sr=1-3 excerpt and text search]
 * Stoett, Peter J. ''The International Politics of Whaling'' (1997) [http://www.questia.com/read/57120862?title=The%20International%20Politics%20of%20Whaling online edition]
+*Berta, Annalisa ''Return to the Sea: The Life and Evolutionary Times of Marine Mammals'' 2012
 == References ==

Whale

Scientific classification
Kingdom Information
Domain	Eukaryota
Kingdom	Animalia
Subkingdom	Bilateria
Branch	Deuterostomia
Phylum Information
Superphylum	Chordata
Phylum	Vertebrata
Infraphylum	Gnathostomata
Class Information
Superclass	Tetrapoda
Class	Mammalia
Sub-class	Theriiformes
Infra-class	Holotheria
Order Information
Order	Cetacea
Population statistics

Difference between revisions of "Whale"

Revision as of 22:45, May 7, 2013

Contents

Description

Taxonomy

Origins

Whaling industry

Whales in literature

The Bible

Fiction

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References

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