Sperm Whales Analysis

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.

Cetaceans use sound extensively in both communication, hunting, and navigation. However as humanity continues to make use of the ocean we are constantly filling it with equipment that produces high amounts of sound. These devices are starting to have an impact on cetaceans worldwide, from mass strandings often linked to military exercises to area denials caused by busy commercial shipping lanes and seismic surveys. If consideration is not taken towards this problem now it could develop into something that could have degrading effects on cetacean populations in the future.

For the first seven months of their training period, the dolphins were acquainted with several gestures and sounds. They were presented with simple two-choice sound-discrimination stimuli to familiarize them with some sounds that the study would use. Correct responses were rewarded with freshly thawed silver smelt fish. The positive reinforcement aimed at developing a positive attitude toward learning and encouraging dolphins to solve problems. Gestural training was also initiated in this period to accustom the dolphins to responses that that would later be expected from them in the study. Akeakamai was made to specialize in gestural

In the article, “Sperm Whales and Killer Whales with the Largest Brain of All Toothed Whales Show Extreme Differences in Cerebellum” the author Sam H. Ridgway studies the cerebellums of the most widest distributed whales in the world. The killer whale and the sperm whale both have huge brains, but this study suggests why the killer whales have a significantly larger cerebellum than that of the sperm whale. After collecting, measuring, and preserving the species, the skull was ready to be chipped away and the brain ready to be taken from the massive cranium. Once extracted, the brain was measured to determine the cerebellar volume: (length of cerebellum base × width of the base × height × 1/3).

Beaked whales are whales that use noise to communicate. Any type of unusual noises underwater can cause problems, so if there is a background coming from our equipment then they can't really communicate. You might be thinking, " It should be okay if they can't communicate." Well you are wrong. You see, whales use there communication as a backup if they are in trouble, such as being attacked, or even stuck for that matter.

Bottlenose dolphins will decrease their calls in the presence of certain vessels. Call rates decrease, frequency and length of whistles increase, and creaks changed in the presence of ferries and leisure boats. Dolphin whistles are a form of social communication. Vessel noise masks whistles interfering with important social interactions such as mating and mother-calf communication, it is hard for the receiver to recognize signals. Dolphins use creaks in echolocation; changes in these creaks reduce the efficiency of foraging. Short-term vessel noise effects on foraging and mating may turn into long-term, affecting residency patterns (David Lundquist et al.,

Sperm whales can hold their breath for over one hour because they have electrically charged proteins in their blood. The sperm whales make some of the longest dives of all the mammals in the whole world. Comparing the humans to the sperm whales, the longest time that in all time a human has ever held their breath underneath the water was for only 19 minutes and the maximum that a sperm whale can dive underneath the water is for 90 minutes approximately according to the scientists that study this whales. There is a difference of 71 minutes (1 hour and 11 minutes) between the time a human can dive into the water and the time a sperm whale can dive into the water.

First, the article claims that this was calls of the male and female orca whales during courtship ritual. The professor refutes this point by saying that this sound was unlikely to be calls of the orca whales. She states that orca whales usually prefer to swim near the surface of water but submarines leaved the surface and patrol in deep are therefore they cannot detect orca whales' calls truly.

The average amount of time it takes for a female whale to have a baby varies depending on its species.

According the University of St. Andrews’ study, of 29 different dolphins, whistling rates during non-polarized and socializing movements were higher than surface travel (Quick & Janik, 2008).

Dolphin reproduction starts with a couple dolphins. The amount of time it takes for the baby dolphin to be born varies depending on species. The mothers of the dolphins usually head towards shallow waters to deliver their babies. The calf is usually born tail first. Another dolphin accompanies the mother sort of like a midwife shortly after the calf is born. The mother then nurses the calf for about 18 months with milk. The fat in the milk allows the calf to grow quickly . During the early months of life for the newborn dolphin, the pod sticks around the mother and her offspring. The calf stays with the mother for about 6 years. When the dolphin is mature it might venture to a new pod, which is initially in the same proximity. Female dolphins

In “Field assessment of C-POD performance in detecting echolocation click trains of bottlenose dolphins (tursiops truncates),” demonstrates the performance of bottlenose dolphin’s echolocation detectors in three different areas testing acoustic recording. The echolocation rates presented here were potentially influenced by variation in both the occurrence of dolphins and their echolocation activity among sites (Robert, Read 2015). Based on the results, dolphins use the same variation in all three sites used in the experiment. The shorter the distance from the predator to its prey, higher frequency is used in echolocation of the specie. The detection range of any passive acoustic monitoring units is highly dependent on the environment in which it is deployed and the behavior of the target species being recorded (Robert, Read 2015). Many other environmental factor such as salinity, temperature, and water depth affects the sound of echolocation for the dolphins. In bottlenose dolphins, the brain is the one that receives the sound waves in the form of nerve impulses, which then applies the signal of sound and allows the dolphin to understand what the sound

Finally, the reading passage indicates that the phenomenon of spy-hopping, which is the behavior of whales to float on waters for a long time means that they are observing stars to obtain information in order to find their ways. On the contrary, the professor dismisses this issue by emphasizing that other animals such as sharks shows such behaviors, whereas they do not migrate by no means. In fact, the sharks use the spy-hopping for hunting purposes. In addition, some whales perform this behavior during days while no star can be seen in the sky. Accordingly, this behavior is not related to their navigation owing to using

Each dolphin has individual characteristics, such as vocal patterns, behavioral patterns, body marks and body shape.

“Splish! Splash!” The sound of bottlenose dolphins jumping and swimming around their tank excites a family at SeaWorld as they wait to experience their first encounter with the dolphins. Every year, bottlenose dolphins bring joy to hundreds of people in both captivity and the wild, but what do people truly know about them? Bottlenose dolphins are actually unique and interesting creatures.