Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Whales And Interesting Facts About These Mammals

By Henry Adams

On a yearly basis whales are known to migrate over long distances with reference to the Baleen which migrates in groups and a group is known as a pod. They migrate from their cold feeding grounds to warmer water where they breed.

These groups of mammals have an incredible bond with each other and the strongest being between mother and calf. The baleen has been known to travel alone or they can also travel in a small group and the toothed species travel in fairly large pods and this is because they hunt together and travel together. The group also ensure safety and care when it comes to their young.

These mammals do not lay eggs they give birth to live calves. The calves suckle milk from their mothers the same as land mammals. The Whale breeds in warm waters seasonally and females usually have one calf every one to three years. The gestation period is between nine to eighteen months depending on the species.

Shortly after the baby is born it will begin to swim and for a full year the mother takes care of this baby as well as feeds it for the full duration. These mothers are exceptionally protective of their babies. For many kilometres across the waters these mammals communicate with one another by means of whale song.

The sounds these mammals make such as clicking and whistling which is common among the toothed species are used as a means of echolocation and at the same time they mark their territory when it mating season and this whale song can last for quite a while whereas the Baleens whale song has a low frequency as opposed to the other species.

Whales have defence mechanisms whereby the toothed species use their teeth to kill their prey as well as protect themselves. Most of the toothed species hunt cooperatively by catching and killing large prey such as the orcas are capable of killing a young blue whale and humpbacks use a method known as bubble net feeding which allows them to catch large amounts of small fish during a feeding.

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