Whales

Wikipedia tells us this about whales:

Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. 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 inlcudes sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga whale. The other cetacean suborder, Mysticeti (baleen whales), comprises filter feeders who eat small organisms caught by straining seawater through a comblike structure found in the mouth called baleen. This suborder includes 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.

But I like whales because they are:

• Huge!
• Friendly
• Can hold their breath for a long time

Whale Anatomy

There are some key parts to whale's anatomy that I think are interesting.

1. Blowhole:Whales breathe through blowholes; baleen whales have two and toothed whales have one. These are located on the top of the head, allowing breathing. Breathing involes expelling stale air (which is warm and moist), as well as some mucus and excess water from the blowholethe, forming an upward, steamy spout, followed by inhaling fresh air into the lungs. Spout shapes differ among species, which facilitates identification
2. Ears: The whale ear has specific adaptations to the marine environment. In humans, the middle ear works as an impedance equalizer between the outside air's low impedance and the cochlear fluid's high impedance. In aquatic mammals, such as whales, there is no great difference between the outer and inner environments. Instead of sound passing through the outer ear to the middle ear, whales receive sound through the throat, from which it passes through a low-impedance fat-filled cavity to the inner ear.The whale ear is acoustically isolated from the skull by air-filled sinus pockets, which allow for greater directional hearing underwater.

Pictures!