Whales Essay

CSCI 5035-03 Assignment 4 WHALES Marine biology is the scientific study of aquatic organisms, their characteristics and behaviors [1]. Even though everyone on the planet is aware of the fact that about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, it is believed that only 5 to 10 percent of the oceans have been explored yet [1]. There are hundreds of thousands of marine creatures that can be found underwater with unique features. Ocean life is very diverse and is categorized into different

This assignment will look at the fossil record of whales as an example of empirical evidence for evolution and is inspired by the article “Land-living ancestors of whales” from the “Berkeley: History of Evolutionary Thought” resource for Module 1. There are two extant groups of whales; odontocetes (toothed whales) and mysticetes (baleen whales) and both share many features with all other mammals: they generate heat and regulate their internal temperature. The females bear live young and produce

The Revenge of the Whale, New York Times bestselling author by Nathaniel Philbrick, takes place on a tiny island off of Massachusetts called Nantucket during a hard period in the whaling business. During the 1800s of the whaling industries, it was an enormous task to catch whales for their oil and it was especially popular in Nantucket which was known as “...the whaling capital of the United States.” We meet 21 interesting characters throughout the book. Owen Chase is our protagonist who was the

Noise can serve as a distraction as well as interference. Eight out of 10 right whales bear the scars left behind by accidental encounters with fishing rope. These thick lines can wrap so tightly around the whales that they die from lacerations. (Ragen et. Al., 2005) Noise from numerous anthropogenic sources is both extensively and increasingly present within the marine surrounding. Human activities are leaving both deep and profound acoustic footmarks in the oceans of the world, and this is because

Whales have been swimming in the Earth’s oceans for 20 million years; their haunting songs can travel underwater for thousands of miles, they are the largest animals to exist on Earth yet they survive on some of the smallest organisms. A whale’s heart can weigh up to 1,300 pounds, and a baby whale can drink up to 130 gallons of its mother’s milk each day (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, 2010). Currently whale hunters claim that they are killing whales for scientific purposes; however, whale

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

year about 1,500 whales are killed between Japan, Norway, and Iceland: they kill them for the whale oil and the whale meat to eat. These countries need to stop killing all of these whales every year. Whales can be very important to the ocean. Many of these countries kill whales for the material. People should not be able to kill whales. It is good for tourists to go watch them swim. Also whales can be helpful to the environment in a couple of ways. One benefit of having whales is that there is many

As the oceans rise in temperatures, the number of whales are significantly dropping. Researchers have found that in the in the past summer the number of humpback whales being identified from the rocks were lamentable, instead of seeing the usual dozens of whales, they only spotted eight. In the past nineteen months, fifty-three humpback whales have died, either colliding with boats or fishing gear. Scientists have also found that the humpbacks have been forced to move elsewhere in search of food

Whales are highly intelligent creatures and possess many human like qualities such as the ability to teach, learn, cooperate, and grieve. They communicate using echolocation, by which sounds are able to travel for miles as the sound waves propagate in the water (Whale Communication and Vocalizations, 2015). The sounds will echo back to the whale that sends them and this form of communication can travel at a speed of one mile per second. Different species of whales take on various forms of communication

The extinction of the beaked whales! Underwater noise is noise that the humans make during experiments underwater, and I am certain underwater noise can effect the extinction of whales, beaked whales, to be exact. 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