Information on the Distinctive White Beluga Whale

The evolutionary path of a whale is a fascinating process of a terrestrial mammal that evolves into a marine mammal. This evolutionary path started with one of the earliest ancestors called “Pakicetus”. A Pakicetus was discovered to be a land animal with four legs that had teeth as carnivores. It skull structure was long, but this organism didn’t look like any marine animal. The scientist then discovered that on the skull’s ear region it was surrounded by a bony wall. This feature on an organism only was distinct from one type of species, scientist discovered that this animal “Pakicetus” was an ancestor of a whale. By comparing the early whales Pakicetus to the next generation of ancestors Ambulocetus, the Ambulocetus whale looks more like

The origin of modern day whales, a mystery that has puzzled paleontologists for years, may have just been solved with the discovery of an ankle bone. This discovery might sound simple and unimportant, but the bones of these ancient animals hold many unanswered questions and provide solid proof of origin and behavior. The relationship between whales and other animals has proven to be difficult because whales are warm-blooded, like humans, yet they live in the sea. The fact that they are warm-blooded suggests that they are related to some type of land animal. However, the questions of exactly which animal, and how whales evolved from land to water, have remained unanswered until now.

There is no doubt that humans have always been intrigued with the majestic beauty of the large giants found in all of the world’s oceans. Whales and people have had a long history together, marked by many turns of events.

Orca whales are the largest members of the dolphin family. Orcas are very curious creatures, they like to sky hop, which is when they poke their heads out of the water and look around, and they can also dive to as much as a hundred feet. These social animals live in pods and stay with them for their whole lives. They are so family oriented that they can may sleep together in a tight circle and have synchronized breathing. Orcas can grow up to thirty-two feet and can weigh nine tons. They typically eat five percent of their body weight and are amazing hunters. The lifespan of an orca in their

Orcinus orca is the scientific name for the massive marine mammal. Orcas are not rare, but have declining numbers in some areas (Martin.) Orcas are found from the Artic Ocean to the Antartic Ocean. (Britannica) They belong to the Delphinidae, or dolphin family, which is the largest

Recent evidence suggests that whales may not have always inhabited the oceans. Bones of an ancient ancestor of modern day whales, the Basilosaurus, were discovered in Pakistan that suggest whales evolved from a wolf-like creature. This genus of an early whale lived 34-40 million years ago in the late Eocene. These fossils show many different features in common with both modern day whales and modern day land mammals. Since the discovery of these bones, many other evidences show that whales are a likely descendant of the Basilosaurus through many different ways, such as embryologic comparison and DNA testing. Whales aren’t the only suspected descendants

can be 22.5 feet, and their tanks are around 150 feet long. Also, the whale can get diseases.

It’s a average, nice summer day and you and your family decide to see killer whales at SeaWorld. Once you arrive to the place and see the large animals in the tank you’re fascinated by their large size. Killer whales, or orca whales, are large marine mammals that can be found in every ocean around the world. They can swim for hundred of miles and “routinely dive up to 300 ft” (“Should Orca Whales Be Kept in Captivity”). They also live in large family groups known as pods that they will rarely ever leave. Seeing these large animals in the tanks that they make seem small due to their large size and with other whales along with marks, mainly bite marks and flopped over dorsal fin for the males, make it questionable if they even should be here and if these other whales are family in the seemingly makeshift pod. Orcas should not be in captivity because of health problems, lack of space in the tanks, and most of them are taken from their homes in the wild where their true family is.

Killer whales are highly social creatures; because of their highly social nature, it would be morally incorrect to assume they would be well off in captivity, apart from their

Whales in captivity suffer through a great amount of emotional abuse . In captivity, Children can be separated from their mothers, and whales that are taken from the wild are separated from their families ,which can consist of up to 40 members (National Geographic). Whales are very family oriented and each pod of whales has their own dialect when communicating. Whales are social creatures and by depriving them of social activity and their families, they become depressed and

The longest a captive born Orca has very lived is twenty-five years (Rose, 3). The average life expectancy is six years in captivity. Eighty six percent of 135+ whales in captivity since 1961 are now dead (KIWE, 3). SeaWorld, one of the most famous marine parks exhibiting Orca whales, has experienced approximately one Orca death a year since beginning their breeding program. It is reasonable and logical to expect at least a third of all captive whales to still be alive today considering the number of males and females, years since the first Orca entered captivity, and life expectancies in the wild, but only twenty percent is still living. “The most parsimonious explanation for this failure to show improved survivorship, despite the effort by Oceanaria to advance husbandry techniques in the past forty five years, is that Orcas are inherently unsuited to confinement” (Rose, 3).

Orcinus Orca, or more commonly known as the Killer Whale, is found in waters worldwide ranging from the Antarctic to tropical regions. Killer Whales are considered to be apex predators of the ocean and have no natural predators. Killer Whales have been observed consuming a large diversity of different marine animals such as fish and squid (Coscarella et al., 2015) and also prey on Subantarctic Fur Seals, which is what they are more commonly known to feed on (Pistorius et al., 2012). Pitman and Durban (2010) also made observations of Killer Whales hunting penguins in the Antarctic. Trying to understand how this top predator regulates the food web involves knowing the relationships among species and also their population size and diet (Coscarella et al., 2015). Killer Whales use different hunting techniques while trying to catch their food and are also very social creatures and tend to hunt in pods. Some Killer Whales have been observed simply chasing their prey until they tire or using a more advanced hunting tactic such as diving to deep depths to get their food, also another unusual activity observed are Killer Whales playing with their food.

The study was first embarked in an attempt to assess what could be done to help the depleting population of the wester Pacific whale. However, it later turned up evidence that may imply that western Pacific whales may just be California gray whales with different swimming patterns.

Based on this study, researchers can know what is the rate of fertilization and where mortality rate is greatest, also they can use this population to create a model population to see what is the cause and how they can prevent this. These results are important because it showed the evolution of the population and it helped to see if minimizing the threats is an effective solution and how these threats are affecting the right whales. Also, it can help assess the recovery of depleted populations, evaluate conservation threats and also to use whales as indicators of the health of local ecosystems (Fretwell 2014). Doing this study was complicated because the old population was not clear, and assumptions had to be made, such as the population size at each class. Therefore, the sample size can affect the end result. Also, assumptions had be made in the future population in regards of the population in each age class, but it was based from a journal.

Many of the Orcas held captive there die very young. The life expectancy of a captive Killer Whale is thirty years, but out in the wild they can live up to eighty to ninety years. The average age of deaths for Orcas at Sea World is a stunning thirteen years old. Sea World supervisors emphasized that all Orcas die that young when questioned about the short life expectancy of Orcas.