The Evolution Of Modern Day Whales

The largest member of the dolphin family is the killer whale, the killer whale is often referred to as an orca. Killer whales are important to biology because they are essential to the oceanic ecosystem. They keep the food chain intake balanced by regulating certain marine mammals, and that helps other animals to not become overpopulated. Killer whales are also important because they help the economy due to whale watching. Killer whales help science by helping scientist understand echolocation which helps them learn more about marine species and how to protect ocean animals from other noises. Killer whales have been kept captive for over 51 years. Killer whales being held captive generate a large profit for companies, while the killer whales live in a shallow concrete tank compared to their free-ranging lives in the wild. Trainers dying, whales dying, and numerous injuries documented on both trainers and whales provide why whales should not be kept in captivity.

In nature, whales act much differently than when held in captivity. They are very family oriented creatures. They travel in groups that can range anywhere from 10 to 40 whales, these groups are called “pods” and are very similar to wolf packs . The whales hunt cooperatively together and teach each other and take care of their young. The mothers in the pods lead to entire group of whales and teach younger whales how to hunt, feed, parent, etc. Female whales usually give birth about every 3 to 10 years, and after they give birth they watch over their young for the rest of their lives. Female whales (like humans) go through a

The last difference is their behavior. Whales something hunt in groups. Most whales also migrate in groups. The reason whales migrate are because they have to get to warmer water for feeding and breeding. Sharks mostly hunt alone. Sharks also migrate to warmer water to feed and breed. Sharks and whales have a different behavior upon their babies. After whales have their children they look after them for 1 to 3 years. Unlike sharks that do not take care after they are born.

Order & Genus. The scientific order of all types of whales is Cetacea. This large order is broken down into three further groups as well: the toothed whales or Odontoceti, which includes killer whales, dolphins, porpoises, beluga whales, and sperm whales, the baleen whales or Mysticeti, which include blue whales, humpback whales, gray whales, and right whales, and the Archaeoceti order, which are all now extinct. The genus of these species is Orcinus orca.

Do you want to know what the life of a killer whale is like? Well, if you do, here is your answer. Read this research paper and learn about the killer whale, also called orca.

Literally everyone who lives in cities knows that the world can be an extremely loud place. Marine life is immensely sensitive to under water noise. When the navy uses sonar, it causes noise in the world's seas, it agitates sea creatures that communicate through sound waves, such as whales. A study shows that whales' behaviors are altered by any exposure to sonar waves.

Whales utilize their speech not only to communicate with family and friends in their pods, but they also use it to see the dark ocean depths to travel, find food, and warn other whales of dangerous

Abstract: Killer whales are cosmopolitan and considered to be a single species that is distributed across the entire ocean. Though it has long been generally known that there are residential killer whales which primarily feed on fish, transient killer whales which feed on mammals, and the lesser encountered offshore killer whales, they actually have further diverse characteristics and are labeled as “types.” Though there are features of appearances that differ between them, this paper will focus solely on the movement and prey specificity of different types of killer whales. Type A killer whales mainly feed on whales, Type B feed on seals, and Type C feed on fish. Type D killer whales

Several lineages of terrestrial mammals evolved separately to live in marine environments. Although there are several different lineages of marine mammals; many did not originate their marine adaptations from a common ancestor. Different marine mammals do share similarities in morphology and show convergent evolution. The environment has shaped these species in similar ways. Through research, it is known that all mammals, marine or otherwise, share a common ancestor far back in their phylogenetic tree, but some are more closely related than others. These phylogenetic origins of marine mammals can be looked at to compare and contrast the similarities that they share because of a common ancestor and those similarities they share because of convergent

Scientists believe that millions of years ago the ancestors of whales and dolphins lived on land-- probably around the time of the dinosaurs' extinction. At some point, dolphins and whales left the land to dwell in water.

Whales are one of the many unique species and play a vital role in the marine ecosystem, but sadly these species are suffering and are about to be driven to extinction, all because of whaling. This is something that should be prevented at all cost because the extinction of whales will disrupt the ecosystem and it is a very cruel act towards peaceful organisms, such as whales.

The earth has a problem that will result in the evisceration of all cetaceans if it is not stopped. What would happen if whales disappeared from the earth? In the event it would be catastrophic. A world without whales is a world which has lost part of the key to the ecosystem of itself. A gentle creature that has been hunted for its blubber, oils produced in the blubber, and for scientific research. Rampant whaling caused the population of many whale species to decrease. These marine mammals dwindled to the point they were in danger of becoming extinct: “One of the most endangered of all marine mammals, the North Atlantic right whale currently hovers at a population of around 500” (Finch). The International Whaling Commission (IWC) imposed

Known as the sea otters (Enhydra lutris,) in various parts of the world are a subfamily of carnivorous mammals. Moreover, the sea otters have a lot of fur that helps keep their body heat. Also, they have great ability to swim, because due to its long tail, and lugs adapted to water. They are able to swim under the water, and they can be submerged there for 30-90 seconds without breathing at the surface. The sea otters have a worldwide distribution. Indeed, they live in oceans, lakes, lagoons and estuaries of the regions of South America, Africa, North America, Africa and Eurasia. Depending on the location, and season the sea otters feed on fish, crayfish, birds, mollusks, amphibians like frogs, water rats, etc. They also consume fruit lesser

Don’t lie, you wonder how the people at SeaWorld train the killer whale and dolphins. Well, I can tell you how, since I’m one of those people. Well, kind of. I am a trainer, not at SeaWorld, but that’s not what I started as, what I’d hoped I would be, or even what I wanted to be going through college. It just so happened that I got offered a job so much better, I gave up on my original dream so I could be a trainer. I wanted to be a biological oceanographer, big name, I know. I had this dream growing up that I could be best friends with a killer whale, which basically, I had. Not the one in my dream, though. Her name was Lorelei, and she could talk to me like a human could, only better. I told her all my secrets, my goals in life that I would work so hard to achieve, but obviously having a whale as a best friend didn’t turn out. I was in love with the Free Willy movies, and I thought Jesse was cute, so I kept watching, and before I knew it I wanted some sort of job that had to do with orcas.

Firstly, the anatomy of the whales nowadays is one of the significant testimonies to attest that the whales lived on a land for a very long time ago. According to whale's anatomy, the whales have placentas for giving birth and have nipples for feeding milk to their young unlike fish that lay eggs for giving birth. They often nurse their children for two years. After that, their babies begin to eat solid food. Moreover, they have no gills because they breathe air