Cetaceans blue whale. Blue whale animal (lat

The whale is a marine mammal belonging to the chordate type, the order of cetaceans. From the Greek language, the whale is translated as a sea monster.

Description of appearance

It is difficult to imagine, but the ancestors of all types of whales are artiodactyl animals that lived on land. Outwardly, a whale looks like a fish, but today the closest animal to it is the hippo. Whales and hippos have the same ancestors who lived on Earth 54 million years ago.

The whale is considered the largest mammal on the planet. Its mass and dimensions depend on the species. Most big size and the weight of blue whales is 33 m and 150 tons. The smallest parameters for the dwarf species are 4-6 m and 3-3.5 tons.

A whale is warm-blooded, it can maintain a constant body temperature regardless of external conditions. A significant layer of fat helps not to overcool. Normal temperature the body of a whale is considered 35-40 ° C.

Breathing occurs with the help of the lungs. To breathe air, the whale must rise to the surface. Whales can stay underwater for 10-40 minutes, while sperm whales can stay for 90 minutes.

The air that these animals exhale is at a higher temperature than the surrounding air. Because of this, a fountain is formed, which is a condensate column, the parameters of which depend on the species.

The body of a whale has the form of a drop, this contributes to the least resistance of water when moving.

The powerful head is completed by a narrow, blunt or, on the contrary, pointed beak - the rostrum. The nostrils (spihals) are located closer to the parietal region. The whale has an insignificant eye size in comparison with the body - only 10-17 cm in diameter. The weight of the eyeballs is not more than 1 kg.

The anatomical structure provides for teeth, but in some species of whales they are not developed, instead of them there are bony plates (whalebones). Toothed species have cone-shaped teeth of the same size.

The vertebral column of a whale consists of 41-98 vertebrae. The skeleton is elastic and has a spongy structure. This contributes to the ability to perform agile and flexible movements.

The whales do not have a neck as such; the head immediately passes into the body, tapering towards the tail. Instead of pectoral fins - flippers. With their help, the animal can turn and brake.

The flattened tail is flexible and muscular. There are horizontal blades at its end. Many species of whale have an unpaired fin on their back to stabilize their body position while moving.

The whale skin has no hairs. Only mustachioed species can boast of short single hairs, similar to vibrissae.

Whales can be solid, spotted, or 2-colored. Separate types change the color of their skin as they grow older.

Whales have poorly developed sense of smell, taste, and vision. Whales are the only animals in the world that have a conjunctiva. Hearing in whales is excellent. They also have an excellent sense of touch. The whales do not have vocal cords, but this does not pose a problem in communicating with each other. They can produce a special sound.

Whales move rather slowly, but can reach speeds of up to 40 km / h. Whales live on average for 30 years, but some species live up to 50.

Whale habitat

The habitat of whales is all four oceans. These animals live in a herd. Groups of whales can number thousands of animals. Some species migrate seasonally.

Diet

All cetaceans, with the exception of the killer whale, prefer to feed on plankton, various molluscs, fish, decomposed organic matter.

Killer whales eat, in addition to fish, various pinnipeds, other cetaceans, and dolphins.

Whale species

Today biologists divide all cetaceans into two groups: baleen (toothless) and toothed whales. The latter include dolphins, killer whales, sperm whales, and porpoises. Below are photos of large whales.

The 38 genera of cetaceans include over 80 species. The most popular are humpback, gray, blue, bowhead, pygmy whales, sperm whales, fin whales.

How whales breed

Almost all cetaceans are monogamous. A female whale's cub appears once every 2 years. Childbearing age begins at the age of 3 years, and full physical maturation occurs by the age of 12.

Whales have a long mating season. The female bears a cub for 7-18 months - it depends on her species.

Childbirth takes place in summer period... Some species migrate to warm waters for breeding.

A whale can only give birth to one cub at a time. Its weight is 2-3 tons, and its length is 2-4 times less than that of the mother. Feeding takes place in the water column for 4-7 months. The sperm whale feeds a cub for 13 months. Whale milk is very fatty and contains a lot of calories.

For a long time, the economic significance of cetaceans for people has been great. Whale oil was used to produce glycerin, soap, and margarine.

The sperm substance contained in the head of the sperm whale is used in cosmetology. A whalebone was used for corsets.

Insulin production is based on the use of secretions secreted by the pancreas of whales. It is also used to make other medicines. Ambergris extracted from whales is used by perfumers.

Uncontrolled whale hunting has resulted in many species nearly extinct. Today whales are in the Red Book and their killing is prohibited by law in many states.

Whale photos

From the order of cetaceans, belonging to the baleen whales. The largest whale, the largest modern animal, and also probably the largest of all animals that have ever lived on Earth. Its length reaches 33 meters, and its weight can significantly exceed 150 tons.

Appearance and structure

The physique is proportional, the body is well streamlined. The head is convex laterally, but obtuse in front. The respiratory opening (blowhole) in front and on the sides is surrounded by a ridge that passes into a ridge, which, gradually decreasing, ends at the end of the snout. The eyes are small, located slightly behind and above the corner of the mouth. The length of the slit of the eye is 9-10 cm. The lower jaw is strongly curved to the sides, with the mouth closed, the snout protrudes 15-30 cm forward. On the front of the head and lower jaw there are several dozen short (15 mm) hairs, the number of which varies.

The miniature dorsal fin is set far back, its height is only about 30 cm and can have a variety of shapes (with a rounded end, triangular, etc.). The pectoral fins are narrow, pointed and somewhat shortened (1/7 - 1/8 of the body length). The caudal fin is 1/4 body length with a small notch in the middle. The head is wide from above, U-shaped, with edges convex to the side. On the belly there are 70-114 longitudinal skin "stripes", on average 80. The depth of the chest-abdominal stripes is up to 2 cm, the width is about 5-6 cm. The longest ones reach almost to the navel.

The body of a blue whale is dark gray, with a bluish tint, mottled with light gray spots and a marble pattern. The head, lower jaw and chin are of the same color. There are more spots in the back half of the body and on the belly than in the front and back. The belly can be yellow or mustard in color. The heart mass is more than half a ton. The diameter of the aorta reaches the diameter of a small bucket, and the lungs can hold up to 14 m3 of air.

Behavior and lifestyle

In general, the blue whale is more lonely than any other cetacean. Blue whale does not form herds, it is predominantly a solitary animal, although sometimes blue whales form small groups of 2-3 heads. Only in places with especially abundant food can they form larger clusters, dividing into smaller groups. In such groups, whales are scattered, although the total number of such aggregations of blue whales reaches 50-60 heads.

The blue whale, swimming near the surface of the water, is not nearly as maneuverable as some other large cetaceans. In general, its movements are slower and, according to scientists, more awkward than other minke whales. The activity of blue whales in the dark is poorly understood. Most likely, he leads a diurnal lifestyle - this is evidenced, for example, by the fact that whales off the coast of California at night almost stop moving.

The blue whale dives quite deeply, especially if it is severely frightened or injured. The data obtained by whalers using special devices mounted on a harpoon showed that a harpooned blue whale can dive up to 500 m, and according to American data, a whale can dive even up to 540 m. Normal diving of a feeding whale rarely exceeds 200 m, but more often no deeper than 100 m. Such dives last from 5 to 20 minutes. The grazing whale dives rather slowly - it takes about 8 minutes to dive to 140 m and then ascend. After surfacing, the whale's breathing quickens up to 5-12 times a minute, with a fountain appearing each time. Rapid breathing lasts 2-10 minutes, after which the whale dives again. Pursued by whalers, the vomit spends much longer than usual, up to 50 minutes.

After a long and deep dive, the blue whale makes a series of 6-15 short dives and shallow dives. Each such emergence takes him 6-7 seconds, for a shallow dive - 15-40 seconds. During this time, the whale has time to swim 40-50 m, shallow under the surface of the water. The highest dips in the series are the first after the ascent from the depth and the last (before the dive). In the first case, the whale, slightly bending the body, first shows the very top of the head with a blowhole, then the back, dorsal fin and, finally, the caudal peduncle. Going to depth, the blue whale strongly bends its body, tilting its head down, so that the highest point becomes the part of the back with a fin, which are shown when the head and front of the back are already deep under water. Then the "arc" of the back becomes lower and lower, and the whale disappears without showing its tail. A diving blue whale rarely shows its tail fin - in about 15% of diving cases. Sightings of blue whales off the southern coast of California have shown that they spend 94% of the time underwater.

On short distance The blue whale can swim at a speed of up to 37 km / h, and in exceptional cases even 48 km / h, but it cannot keep this speed for a long time, since it puts too much stress on the body. At this speed, the whale develops a power of up to 500 horsepower. The grazing vomit moves slowly, 2-6 km / h, during migrations faster - even up to 33 km / h.

The blue whale breathes 1-4 times per minute in a calm state. Studies in the 1970s showed that the respiration rate in blue whales (and minke whales in general) is highly dependent on the size and age of the whale. Young whales breathe much more often than adults - for example, when surfacing after a deep dive, the frequency of breathing (inhalation-exhalation) in a blue whale with a length of 18 m was 5-10 in 2 minutes, while in an adult 22.5-meter vomited it was 7 -11 times in 12.5 minutes. Respiration rates for whales of this size that did not dive were 2-4 and 0.7-2 times per minute, respectively. An adult blue whale pursued by whalers breathed (gave a fountain) 3-6 times a minute.

Nutrition

The largest animal on earth consumes about 1 million calories per day. This is approximately 1 ton of krill, which is the main diet of the blue whale. In general, the blue whale is a typical plankton-eater: it feeds on crustaceans in the upper water column, submerging under water for 10-15 minutes. The crustaceans that it feeds on concentrate in special zones called feeding fields. In such places you can meet several whales at once, although usually they do not gather in groups of more than 3 individuals.

Fish, if it plays any role in the diet of a blue whale, is very insignificant. Soviet sources indicated that the blue whale does not eat fish at all, while other sources more definitely indicate that it does eat fish. Most likely, the ingestion of fish and other small marine animals occurs by accident, while eating masses of krill. It is also possible that the eating of small schooling fish and small squid observed in the western part of the Pacific Ocean is caused by the absence of large accumulations of planktonic crustaceans. In addition to a small number of small fish, small crustaceans other than krill have been found in the stomach of the blue whale.

The blue whale feeds in the same way as the rest of the minke whales. The grazing whale swims slowly, opening its mouth and collecting water with a mass of small crustaceans into it. The stripes on the throat allow the whale's mouth to stretch very strongly, and the movable articulation of the bones of the lower jaw also greatly contributes to this. Having scooped up water with crustaceans, the whale closes its mouth and squeezes the water back through the whalebone with its tongue. In this case, the plankton settles on the fringe of the mustache and is then swallowed.

The huge lower jaw, filled with water and food, is so heavy that it is sometimes difficult for a blue whale to move it to close its mouth. Measurements of a 150-ton blue whale, 29 m long, showed that its mouth could hold 32.6 m³ of water. Therefore, often a blue whale, having collected food in its mouth, turns over on its side or even on its back, and then the mouth slams shut itself under the influence of gravity. Due to its huge size, the blue whale is forced to consume a very large amount of food - it eats, according to various sources, from 3.6 to 6-8 tons of krill per day, and it is estimated that the number of individual crustaceans in this mass reaches 40 million. , a blue whale needs about 3-4% of its body weight per day. The aforementioned whale, with a mouth volume of 32.6 m³, could capture over 60 kg of crustaceans at a time at the usual krill density in the ocean. The deeply stuffed stomach of a blue whale can hold up to a ton of food.

Whale songs

Leading a solitary life, whales have developed their own way of communication, with the help of which they communicate with each other over enormous distances of up to 1600 km. These are famous whale songs, the volume of which reaches 188 decibels. The meaning of these songs is not fully understood, but scientists have noticed that whales "sing" during the breeding season, so that singing is possible in some way connected with the family functions of animals. These songs last up to half an hour.

At first, it was believed that only males sing, but there is information that female blue whales also sing for their babies. The sound-reproducing system in animals is located in the front of the head and serves as a lens that picks up and reproduces sounds. Since whales are practically blind and have no sense of smell, sound is the only means of communication with other individuals, and the only way of contact with the outside world. Therefore, whales are constantly busy analyzing ambient sounds.

Oceanographers have collected and analyzed thousands of recordings of blue whale "songs" that have been documented by various instruments over the past 45 years. It turned out that slowly but steadily, by fractions of a hertz per year, the tonal frequency of the sound decreases. This happens regardless of the ocean where the animals live. But, for example, in most of the surveyed populations of whales that live near California, the sound frequency of songs has dropped by 31% since 1965.

Among possible reasons This phenomenon, which experts consider in an article published in Endangered Species Research, is a reaction to changes in the composition of water in the ocean, as well as the simple desire of young whales to imitate the timbre of older ones, in which it decreases with age.

The most plausible option, and at the same time the most unhappy, is that due to the fatal decrease in the number of blue whales, they now need to send their "messages" more far away, and low-frequency sounds, as you know, travel further in the ocean.

Reproduction

The height of mating in blue whales occurs in winter: in January in the northern hemisphere and in July in the southern hemisphere. The body length of newborns is from 6 to 8.8 m, more often 7-8 m, with a weight of 2-3 tons. A strong variation in the size of embryos harvested at the same time indicates a prolonged mating period for almost the entire year. An analysis of the size of embryos in Antarctic catches showed an average increase in their body by 35 cm in November, by 56 in December, by 72 in January, by 92 in February, and by 79 cm in March (Tomilin, 1957). Apparently, the rate of growth of embryos gradually increases, but by the end of uterine life it slows down somewhat.

Pregnancy lasts a little less than a year (about 11 months). Usually one calf is born, cases of multiple pregnancies are rare. According to the International Whaling Statistics (ISS), among 12,106 Antarctic embryos, there were 77 cases of twins, five cases of triplets, one find with five and one with seven embryos. Of the twin embryos, as a rule, only one develops to the end, the rest die and are resorbed. During the 7-month lactation period, the calf, feeding on very fat milk (34-50% fat), grows up to 16 m and weighs 23 tons, and at the age of 19 months reaches 20 m and weighs 45-50 tons; medium-sized individuals (23.7-24 m) weigh 80-85 tons, and large ones (30 m) weigh 150-160 tons (Wheeler a. Mackintosh, 1929; Krogh, 1934; Ruud, 1956). Puberty occurs at 4-5 years, as evidenced by 8-10 layers in ear plugs, which determine age. Females at this time reach a length of 23 m. They reach full growth and physical maturity with a body length of 26-27 m, which is probably at 14-15 years old.

The average daily weight gain of suckers, according to zootechnical calculations (Tomilin, 1946), reaches 81.3 kg with a daily consumption of 90 kg of milk. Sexual maturity occurs at 4–5 years of age, when 8–10 layers appear in the age-related ear plugs (Nishiwaki, 1957); at this time, the length of southern females reaches an average of 2-3.78 m, northern females - 23 m, and the average weight of male testes is 10 kg (Ruud, 1950, 1957). Usually females reproduce every two years. Strong variation in the percentage of pregnant females among sexually matured (from 20 to 61%: Laurie, 1937; Ottestad a. Ruud, 1936) depends on the accuracy of registration of embryos at whaling bases and on the number of individuals studied (with less material, large deviations are possible).

The females reach physical maturity when 11-12 scars of the corpus luteum accumulate in the ovaries; this happens at the age of 14-15, and possibly even more older age, with an average body length of 26.2 m (Laurie, 1937), 26.5 m (Brinkmann, 1948) and 26.67 m (Peters, 1939). The minimum size of physically mature Antarctic females was set at 24.7 m, and for males - 22.3 m. ... The oldest female in the North Pacific Ocean had only 25 scars (Omura, 1955).

Number of

The initial abundance of blue whales, prior to the start of their intensive fishing, was estimated at 215,000. According to other sources, it could have been even larger, up to 350 thousand. The first bans on fishing for blue whales in the Northern Hemisphere date back to 1939; they affected only certain regions. Fishing was completely banned in 1966, but the ban on fishing, however, did not immediately affect blue pygmy whales, which they continued to hunt back in the 1966-1967 season.

The current population of blue whales is difficult to estimate. The reason may be that blue whales have not been very actively studied for decades - for example, according to authoritative sources in 1984, the International Whaling Commission has practically not counted the number of these whales since the mid-1970s. In 1984, it was reported that no more than 1,900 blue whales lived in the Northern Hemisphere, and about 10,000 in the Southern Hemisphere, half of which were a dwarf subspecies.

According to some data, there are now from 1300 to 2000 blues in the entire world ocean, but in this case the number of these whales is even lower than 40 years ago, despite the complete absence of fishing. Other sources give more optimistic figures: 5-10 thousand blues per Southern hemisphere and 3-4 thousand in the North. The question of the quantitative distribution of the world population of blue whales in individual areas is also not fully clarified.

A number of sources indicate that 400 to 1400 blue whales live in the Southern Hemisphere, about 1480 in the North Pacific, and the number of blue whales in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere is unknown. In relation to the Southern Hemisphere (more precisely, the Southern Ocean), other figures are also indicated: 1700 heads with a 95% probability that this number is between the two extreme values ​​of 860 and 2900. At the same time, 6 herds live in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the International Whaling Commission blue whales. Whales of the southern subspecies, which became the main object of attention of whalers in the twentieth century, according to 2007 estimates, only 3% of the 1914 population remains.

The growth of the blue whale population is slow, but in some places, for example, in areas near Iceland, the growth after the ban on fishing reached 5% per year. American scientists conducting a detailed study of the cetacean population off the Pacific coast of the United States noted that the number of blue whales in these areas during the 1980s tended to increase. However, the same study concluded that there was no data on population growth in the Pacific as a whole. There are legitimate concerns that the blue whale population may never recover to its original numbers.

Whales are very smart animals. Their incredible intelligence and friendly nature made whales very popular and interesting animals for science. Scientists generally believe that the whale's brain is more similar in its capabilities to a human than the brain of any other animal.

Some of the structural features of whales were of great interest to physicians. So, whales do not have cerebral hemorrhages, due to the fact that there is a special shunt in their heart that connects two large arteries, which provides reliable protection against blockage of blood vessels, and as a result, against heart attacks.

The whale's eye is also of interest to scientists. Firstly, because in it the size allows you to see what is impossible to see in the eye of a person or other animal. Secondly, the blue whale can dive under water to great depths, and the structure of its eye is such that it can withstand enormous pressures. Having learned this secret, a person will help patients with glaucoma associated with intraocular pressure disorders.

According to one scientific theory, the modern blue whale is the descendants of ancient mammals that millions of years ago lived not in water, but on land. No matter how strange this assumption may be, the reasons for its existence are quite compelling: one has only to look at the structural features of the skeleton, and also pay attention to the fact that these ocean giants do not have gills.

Moreover, these mammals do not spawn, but give birth to fully formed young, which are fed with mother's milk. So what do whales look like and how long do they live? What are their dimensions and weight? All this in order.

The largest whale in the world: characteristics and types

It is known that this representative mammals- the largest in the world, the dimensions of which really inspire: the length of the blue whale is 34 m, and the weight of the blue whale is about 180 tons. It belongs to mammalian vertebrates.

If we compare with him the rest of the representatives of this detachment, then their size will be significantly inferior:

Many people mistakenly believe that a whale is a giant fish, but this opinion is erroneous, because they have only two features that are similar: body structure and habitat. At the same time, there are large differences here in the circulatory system, in the structure of the skeleton, and even in the skin. The biggest difference between whales and common fish is their reproduction.

About the size of the whale

It's worth starting with the fact that all these sea giants are divided by two. suborder- these are mustachioed and toothed. Baleen whales are peaceful animals that feed on mollusks and plankton, they are filtered out with the help of their special whiskers, on which there are plates. Such mammals are considered the largest representatives of their kind, their body length in an adult state is more than 10 m.

Toothed whales are real predators that hunt other mammals and other fish. Their representatives are very diverse, however, in size they are inferior to their peaceful counterparts: the body length of an adult predator does not exceed 10 m. The predators include river and ocean dolphins, beaked whales and sperm whales.

Now you can consider some of the most famous representatives:

Features of the largest mammal on the planet

First, it is worth talking about how many years the blue whale lives, because this issue causes controversy among scientists. According to general data, on average, such an animal lives for about 80-90 years, but there have been cases when this representative of mammals lived up to 110 years. However, according to other scientists who studied these giants in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the United States, these animals can live for a maximum of 40 years.

Another one interesting feature- this is what all blue whales communicate with each other using ultrasound, and movement in space occurs due to echolocation. Such mammals have very weak eyesight, taste and smell.

It is interesting that in fact the skin of this animal is not at all blue and not even blue, but ordinary gray. But if you look at them through the water column, then they really seem to be blue. Actually, that is why they got their name.

Many people wonder whether such a huge representative of mammals is dangerous for humans, because it is huge and it seems that it can swallow absolutely any prey. The answer here is unambiguous - no, such mammals are not interested in people, because they prefer a completely different food. The only thing such a giant can do harm is to accidentally turn over the ship, which is not far from it, when surfacing.

These aquatic animals do not have gill openings, which means that they need atmospheric air to breathe. To do this, they float to the surface every 10-15 minutes, and signal their appearance with a characteristic fountain of water.

The blue or blue whale, he also vomited, is considered the largest mammal on the planet living at the present time. Some individuals reach over 30 meters in length, although such giants are relatively rare. The average size of a blue whale is about 26 meters in length, and its mass ranges from 100-120 tons.

The blue whale is the largest living animal. This mammal lives in different regions depending on the subspecies. The most abundant subspecies are found in cold waters.

Where do whales live? Previously, the habitat of this mammal extended to the entire World Ocean, however, due to the development of whaling, the number of these animals has greatly decreased. In some areas, they have become very rare. In addition, the largest whale in the world migrates from one region to another in search of food. In summer, these creatures move to cooler areas, and in winter they prefer warm ones.

The habitat largely depends on the subspecies. The dwarf species of vomit prefers the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean, while the larger subspecies settle in the colder waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The largest of the subspecies is considered the southern one, inhabiting most of the time in subantarctic waters, but sometimes found off the coast of Africa.

Blues are rare nowadays. The reason for this was whaling, which is now prohibited. Influenced the size of the populations of this mammal and poor ecology.

How many of these animals are left at the moment? A few years before the ban on whaling of blue whales was imposed, no more than 5,000 remained. At the moment, the population has approximately doubled compared to 1963. The number of giant whales currently living in the World Ocean does not exceed 10,000 individuals, which is less than 10% of the number of individuals before the development of whaling.

Appearance

What was the official size of the largest whale? At the moment, the female caught in 1926 is considered the largest whale. The length of this individual was 33.5 meters. The weight of the largest blue whale was not recorded, but the whalers who caught it were estimated to be at least 200 tonnes. Information about the larger individuals was not documented.

How much does a whale weigh? The mass usually ranges from 100 to 120 tons, but sometimes it can be even more. Whales reaching gigantic sizes can weigh 150-200 tons. Such individuals are not uncommon.

What do whales look like? This mammal is inferior in size to only a few prehistoric animals, significantly exceeding all currently existing ones. The body size of males is slightly smaller than that of females. The body length of the female vomited on average about 2 m longer than the male. In addition, the body weight of females is greater.

Since the blue whale is a large animal, its internal organs also reach gigantic proportions. How much does a blue whale's heart weigh? It is difficult to give an unequivocal answer to this question. In many ways, the mass of a given organ depends on the subspecies. How much does a vomit heart weigh? From 500 kg to 1 ton. In one stroke, a whale's heart is capable of driving more than 200 liters of blood.

The vomit tongue weighs from 3 to 4 tons. This is a mass passenger car... The mass of the lower jaw of this mammal, which has taken a mouthful of krill, is sometimes so great that the animal is not able to close its mouth on its own. In this case, the largest mammal flips over onto its back. Under the influence of gravity, the mouth closes itself.

The size of the fatty layer of these giants is also significant. Fat makes up 27% of the body weight of a mammal. The fat layer can be up to 30 cm thick.

The lung capacity of a blue whale often exceeds 3000 liters. The total blood volume is about 8 tons.

Huge cubs

The blue whale is a monogamous animal. Animals form a pair, after which they do not part under any circumstances.

The frequency of birth of pups depends on environmental factors, as well as on the number of individuals in a particular area. On average, it is about 2 years.

Pregnancy in blues lasts about 11 months, after which the female gives birth to 1 cub, very rarely the cub can be 2. In this case, they are born with an interval of several months. Several embryos are formed, but most of them are absorbed in the womb. The weight of a newborn kitten is about 2-3 tons, and its length varies from 6 to 8 meters.

Breastfeeding time is approximately 7 months. During this time, the kitten grows up to 16 meters in length. The weight of a blue whale at this age reaches 23 tons. An adult vomit is considered from the age of 10-15 years. At this age, individuals become capable of reproduction.

How long do whales live? The life span of this mammal is comparable to that of a human. Bluval is able to live up to 80 years. The documented maximum life span of a blue whale is 110 years, but such figures are rare. Thus, the blue whale is an animal that can be considered a long-liver. Due to whaling, the life span of the vomit has been significantly reduced. How many years do these creatures live on average at the moment? The average life span of huge mammals is approximately 45 years.

Food vomited

Being the largest animal that exists at the present time, the vomit is forced to eat a huge amount of food in a day. What does a whale eat? The main diet of this mammal is krill. Krill are the smallest crustaceans, plankton. Less commonly, fish and crustaceans are eaten. large sizes... Eating these living beings is an accident. The giant swallows the passing fish along with the krill. At the same time, the speed of movement is about 4-6 km / h.

Because of its size, the blue whale is forced to consume large amounts of food. He eats up to 8 tons of krill per day.

How does a blue whale feed? The animal swims with an open mouth, into which krill fall. After that, the mouth closes. With the help of a whalebone, the water is decanted. The plankton remains in the mouth. When the most large creation in the world will drain all the water, it swallows prey.

Cubs that feed on breast milk consume about 90 liters per day. They add up to 44 kg of weight per day.

The blue whale is considered safe for humans, however, being near these animals, do not forget about the safety rules, as they sometimes turn boats over.

Whale songs

The main reason why the blue whale uses sound signals is to communicate with congeners. The sounds that this giant makes belong to the infrasonic spectrum. Bluvals are able to communicate in this way, being at a distance of up to 33 km.

Another reason why these animals use sound signals is the need to navigate the area. Visibility in the water is lower than in the air, so animals living in the sea, in addition to seeing, use other methods of determining their position relative to other objects, in particular echolocation. The sound of the whale bounces off the obstacle and returns. Thus, the vomit determines the distance of obstacles. This is how whales seek out krill, their main food.

At the moment, motor boats and other artificial sources of sound underwater cause great harm to giant mammals. They interfere with orientation in space. In addition, the largest whale can be injured by the boat. Similar injuries, as well as ruptured organs and internal bleeding, were found in many of the animals that washed ashore.

Mysteries of nature

Scientists still have not figured out why marine mammals are periodically washed ashore. There are many assumptions about this mystery, but none of them can be considered reliable. Among the most popular versions are the theories of echolocation failures, diseases, and reactions to pollution. environment... Whichever assumption turns out to be correct, it will be difficult to prevent beaching due to the size of the animal. Several dozen blues are thrown onto land during the year.

A whale that has washed ashore usually perishes. The mass of these huge animals is too large to survive on earth. Under the influence of gravity, the giant's body destroys itself.

Dehydration can be another cause of death for a stranded whale. In addition, whales can suffocate if the water blocks the whale's ability to breathe during high tide.

Cetacean landings are often massive. Several individuals are thrown out at once. It is extremely rare to save whales that have washed ashore, since this work is very laborious, and sea giants are not able to stay on the surface for a long time.

Some of the whales are among the largest animals in the world. Biologists distinguish between two suborders of whales - toothed and baleen. Toothed whales belong to about 80 species, and to baleen only 10. The body length of toothed whales varies between 1.3 and 20 m, and the mass from 30 kg to 40 tons. The body length of baleen whales ranges from 5 to 35 m, weight 4.5 -135 m. The forelimbs of all whales turned into rigid pectoral fins, while the hind limbs and pelvis disappeared altogether. However, a few bones from the pelvis remained in the skeleton. Whales have a large head and a vertical tail fin. They swim in all the oceans of the planet.

Toothed whales, as the name implies, have preserved teeth in their mouths. They are predators, hunt for cephalopods and fish, as well as penguins and seals. The most famous among them is the sperm whale (Physeter catodon), with a body length of up to 20 m and a weight of up to 40 tons. Much smaller than the sperm whale, the grinda, or the ball-headed dolphin (Globicephala melaena), with a black-brown color and a body length of about 8 m, and grayish -white beluga whale (body length up to 6.5 m). A close relative of the grinda, the black and white killer whale (Orcinus orca) (body length up to 8 m, weight 7t) is a large and predatory dolphin, about which sinister legends go among sailors.

The most famous group of toothed whales are dolphins. These animals are known to everyone from dolphinariums and television programs. Usually we are talking about the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), reaching a length of 4 m and a weight of 350 kg. At the end of the 20th century, it is numerically estimated at 5 million.

In the mouth of baleen whales, there is a filtering apparatus made of narrow vertical plates with a bristle fringe. These plates form a filter in which different animals get stuck. Baleen whales open their mouths, take in water and close them again. They then squeeze the water out, and the food remains on the plates.

The most famous species of baleen whales are dwarf whales (Caperea marginata), gray, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and, above all, blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus). The dwarf smooth whale (body length up to 6.5 m, weight up to 3.5 tons) is the most common of the baleen whales. Its number is estimated at 300 thousand animals. The humpback whale (body length 19 m, weight 45 tons) is the most interesting to watch. This powerful animal sometimes jumps out of the water many times in a row.

The blue whale is the largest animal currently existing on Earth. It reaches 35 m in length and weighs up to 130 tons, which is equal to the mass of 30 elephants, 150 cars or 1600 people. Because of modern technology Fishing for the blue whale is on the verge of extinction today. Its number is estimated only at 10 thousand individuals.

Finwhale (B. physalus) is inferior in size to blue: its length is only 19.5-21 m. This slender animal has a rather high speed stroke - 14-17 km / h, if you scare him, the speed will increase to 25-30 km / h, and at the moment of a jerk it can even exceed 40 km / h. Unfortunately, the number of fin whales is decreasing every year.

Gray whale (Eschrichtius gibbosus)

Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas)

Whales

Of all mammals inhabiting the Earth, the largest are whales. They are toothed and mustachioed. The former include sperm whales, killer whales, dolphins, porpoises, beluga whales; they have teeth with which they grip prey. There are 23 species of toothed whales in the seas of the USSR, while baleen whales have only 9. Baleen whales have 300-400 triangular horn plates instead of teeth on both sides of the upper jaw. This is the "mustache". The length of such plates sometimes reaches 4 m.

In some species of baleen whales, the belly is furred with numerous longitudinal folds - such whales are called minke whales; others have a smooth belly - this is smooth whales; the third - gray whales - have 2-3 folds on their throats. They got their name because of the gray color of the body. All whales quickly swim and dive, they are very similar in body shape to fish, only the blades of the caudal fin are located horizontally, not vertically. But they cannot be attributed to fish: these are sea animals. Whales breathe with their lungs, they have a constant body temperature, they give birth to live young and feed them with milk.

The female bears a cub for a whole year. He is born under the surface of the sea. The newborn is born rather large - only 2 - 3 times smaller than the mother, sighted and mobile. He follows his mother everywhere, who has been feeding him milk for more than six months. This milk is half fat; it is 8-10 times more nutritious than cow's milk, which is why whales grow so quickly. The cub has no soft lips, and he does not suck milk. The cub only grasps the mother's nipple tightly with the tip of the mouth, and the mother squeezes special muscles on her belly and injects milk directly into his mouth.

A group jump of trained dolphins in a lagoon in Hawaii.

Toothed whales. - sperm whales. The length of large males of sperm whales reaches 20 m, females are half as long. Sperm whales live in small herds. A herd of females is usually headed by a male. Such herds are found in the tropics, but it happens that they also appear off the coast of Kamchatka.

It will be bad even for a large ship if the sperm whale hits its head! And it is huge, weighs twenty tons - almost the same as the entire body of a whale, but in shape it resembles a quay pedestal - dull, as if chopped off in front. The lower jaw is elongated and has approximately 50 shiny, sharp teeth. Above the upper jaw of the sperm whale is a huge fat pad - a sperm bag.

Whales: 1 - bowhead whale; 2 - blue (light blue) whale; 3 - fin whale; 4 - save; 5 - minke whale; 6 - gray whale; 7 - humpback; c - sperm whale (male); 9 - sperm whale (female).

One killed sperm whale - an eighteen-meter giant - in the stomach was found 400 squid 20-30 cm long. Sometimes sperm whales attack very large squids, up to 12 m long. When hunting squid, sperm whales often dive to great depths - to the very bottom, where only deep-sea animals can live. There is a known case when a sperm whale got entangled in an underwater cable and cut it off at a depth of about a thousand meters.

The special structure of the body allows him to descend to such depths and for a long period (up to one hour). The sperm whale has only one nostril at the end of its snout - the left one, and the right one ends with a large subcutaneous air sac. In it, the sperm whale carries away an additional supply of air to the depth, using it for sound alarms and as a reserve of oxygen. A large number of The sperm whale also stores oxygen with the help of the hemoglobin dye contained in the muscles - the so-called myoglobin. The blood flow in a diving sperm whale is redistributed so that oxygen is primarily supplied to the brain and heart muscle.

Killer whales and dolphins. Sometimes in the sea you can see herds of relatively large toothed whales, 5-7 m long. They have high dorsal fins and bright white spots above the eyes. These are marine predators - killer whales. They attack seals, fur seals, dolphins, and sometimes even a large whale, open their mouths and pull out a soft fat tongue from there, trying to drown the giant. Sometimes a whale, pursued by these predators, is thrown ashore in fear and here most often dies from overheating, since its body develops too heat which the air cannot cool. Killer whales are afraid to attack a sperm whale - its teeth are too strong and its strength is not small.

Now killer whales have begun to be kept in captivity in huge sea basins - aquariums - in the USA, Canada, England, Japan and other countries. It turned out that these are fast-learning animals that lend themselves well to training. The performance of trained killer whales is shown to the general public. The smallest whales - dolphins - can be found in the Black Sea. There are 50 species of them in the oceans.

Dolphins: 1 - small killer whale; 2 - large killer whale; 3 - gray dolphin; 4 - grind; 5 - beluga whale; 6 - narwhal (unicorn); 7 - porpoise; 8 - common dolphin; 9 - bottlenose dolphin.

Most dolphin species live in warm waters, some in temperate and only rare in cold. We have in the Arctic seas large six-meter dolphins without a dorsal fin - beluga whales (white dolphins) and narwhals (with spotted coloration), the males of which are armed with a straight bone tusk up to 2-3 m long.In the rivers of South America and India, freshwater dolphins live - Amazonian iniya and susuk. Since they live in muddy waters and dig for food, digging in the muddy bottom, their vision is poorly developed, and there are tactile hairs on their long beak. The common dolphin that lives in our Black Sea has about 200 sharp teeth; with them he keeps the slippery fish.

Dolphins are herd animals with a streamlined and well-controlled body, swimming swiftly at almost speed passenger trains... Vigorous movements cause excess heat in their bodies, which they give to the sea water through their fins. When a dolphin is pulled out of the water, if it beats, the fins are hot.

Dolphins perfectly navigate in the water by the method of echolocation: at first they emit clicking sounds, and then they catch the echo of these sounds reflected from the surrounding objects. They emit various sounds with the help of a special sound-signaling organ located in the nostril and consists of muscles and three pairs of air sacs. With the help of the same organ, the dolphin can copy the words of a person, like a parrot. Dolphins' hearing is very thin: they can hear ultrasounds with a frequency of up to 200 kHz, and a person hears sound vibrations of no more than 20 kHz. Dolphins' brains are very large; in shape and number of convolutions in the cerebral cortex, it resembles the human brain.

Nowadays dolphins are used as circus and laboratory animals. They are kept and studied at home and abroad in special pools. Scientists are examining the skin of high-speed dolphins in order to create the skin of high-speed ships in its likeness, trying to create the same portable and noise-resistant devices - sonars, as dolphins have (see the article "Biology - technology"). These animals are easy to train and learn various tricks. It is possible that dolphins will be tamed in the not too distant future. They will help fishermen find schools of fish, drive them into nets, serve as communications and help aquanauts in various underwater jobs. The taming of dolphins will help humans to master the riches of the sea.

Baleen whales. The largest animal in the world is the mustachioed blue whale. The length of this minke reaches 33 m, and it weighs up to 150 tons (about 25-30 African elephants weigh the same). Longitudinal folds stretch along the belly. The heart of a large whale weighs up to half a ton, the tongue weighs up to 3 tons, and the lungs can hold up to 14 m 3 of air. The blue whale, moving at a speed of 33-37 km / h, can develop a power of 500 liters. with.

Blue whales feed on small fish, molluscs, crustaceans. To feed, such a giant needs to catch hundreds of kilograms of small animals. This is where his "mustache" is needed. Having found a place where there are many crustaceans, the whale opens its mouth and swims forward. The water is filtered between the plates, and the crustaceans get stuck in the "whiskers", like in a sieve. Then he closes his mouth and swallows the prey. From the stomach of a caught blue whale, one and a half tons of no large crustaceans were once removed.

These whales begin to breed at the age of five. By the age of 20, their growth stops, although they live up to 50 years. Blue whales feed in the northern and southern cold seas, and give birth to young in warm ones.

The fin whale, or minke whale, is a medium-length whale (18-20 m) much more common in our waters. His belly is snow-white, and his "mustache" is blue. Like the blue whale, the fin whale lives far from the coast, but, in pursuit of fish, occasionally even enters the mouths of large rivers.