# Most etymologists believe that the term "whale" derives from the High German word hwal, but it may also be derived from the Old English word for "wheel," since the back of a whale rolling at the water surface resembles the rim of a large, submerged wheel.
# Another name for whales is cetacea, which derives from the Greek word Keto, the goddess of sea monsters.
# On Earth, there are 78 species of whales.
# If the whales remain underwater for more than 30 minutes, they drown.
# Baleen whales have two blowholes, while the toothed whales only have one.
# The tongue of a blue whale can weigh as much as an elephant.
# Whales do not drink seawater; rather they use metabolizing fat to extract water from their food.
# Blue whales feed almost entirely on krill, tiny shrimp-like creatures, about the size of a jelly bean, despite their massive size.
# In a single mouthful, the blue whales can eat half a million calories.
# By counting the rings in its earwax you can tell a whale's age.
# Whales are able to hold their breaths for at least 20 minutes.
# The loudest animals on Earth are sperm whales. Their calls reach 230 decibels.
#The second loudest animals on Earth are blue whales. The noise can be detected more than 800 km (500 mi ) away, at 188 decibels.
# When a whale slaps its fluke (tail) against the water, this is to scare smaller fish, as it forages for food.
# The heart of a blue whale can be as big as a car.
# The milk of a Whale has the consistency of toothpaste.
# Sometimes, whales are born with one or two legs.
# Whales will get sunburns.
# Blue whales can get a tan.
# Dolphins and whales squeal in order to express their delight.
# Since whales often have to rise up to the surface to breathe, only half of their brain sleeps at a time.
# A 2008 study found that in passive shallow 'drift-dives,' usually during the day, sperm whales sleep in vertical postures just under the surface.
# Beluga whales, known as the "canaries of the sea," make chirping sounds like little birds.
# Humpback whales sing complex songs.
# The major part of the head of a sperm whale is filled with a fat, yellow tissue called "junk."
# Scientists believe that whales are capable of teaching, learning, scheming, grieving, and co-operating with others. This was believed after studies found their cells similar to those of human cells engaged in social interactions.
# Whales live in families that are known as pods.
# Male whales are known as "bulls" while females are known as "cows." Newborns are known as "calves."
# The only species in which females live well beyond menopause are human beings, killer whales and short-finned pilot whales.
# Dolphins and whales give birth to the tail first rather than the head.
# Calves will reach maturity between 7 and 10 years.
# Baby blue whales gain 200 pounds (91 kg) each day in their first year of life.
# Beluga whales who mourn a child's loss may sometimes "adopt" inanimate objects like plants, rocks, and a caribou carcass, in one case.
# Whale Sharks can live up to 100 years.
# The life span of a blue whale in the wild is about 90 years.
# Whales have descended from the dinosaur Artiodactyl species, which were land livers.
# Whales roughly 47 million years ago walked on land.
# Whales used to be less than 30 feet long until 3 million years ago.
# The world's largest whale was the blue whale at 30 meters and around 180 tonnes, while the smallest being the pygmy sperm whale at 3.5 meters.
# Bowhead whales are the longest living whales. They can live for more than 200 years which makes them the oldest living mammals on earth.
# Scientists have noticed that humpback whales are rescuing animals being hunted by orcas around the world.
# The male narwhal is the Whale with the longest teeth. The left tooth grows up to around 7 to 10 feet through the lip of the whale. They were sold as unicorn horns in the Middle Ages.
# Somewhere in the ocean there is a single whale that transmits calls at a frequency at which no other whales transmit. It was called the "loneliest whale in the world."
# The fin whale is also known as the "greyhound of the sea" and can reach speeds of up to 32 km/h or 20 mph.
# The world's only known white humpback whale is named Migaloo, meaning "white fella" in an aboriginal Queensland dialect. It is a whale of "special interest," and it will be fined $13,500 for anyone coming close to him.
# Gray whales travel from Mexico's warm waters and their feeding grounds in the cold Arctic seas in a round trip of around 10,000 to 12,400 miles each year. The whale completes the distance of going back and forth to the moon over its average lifespan of 40 years.
# Gray whales were once referred to as "devilfish," due to the ferocity with which a gray female whale protects its young.
# When a whale dies and its carcass falls into the ocean floor's Bathyal or Abyssal zone, a complex localized ecosystem of deep-sea organisms can be sustained for decades. This is known as "whale fall."
# Whales are so large they can take up to one hundred years of consuming them to decompose.
# The hippopotamus is the closest living relative to the whale.
# The Killer Whale is a natural predator of the Moose. They were known for preying on moose swimming along the Northwest Coast of America.
# Whales in captivity, such as at Sea World in Orlando, Florida, are often used for shows. These shows feature heavily killer whales, which are involved in demonstrations and are rewarded for their efforts.
# Many expensive perfumes are made of whale poops.
# The vomit of whales is also used in perfumes.
# When a blue whale dives into the water its head is deeper than most scuba divers dare to go before its tail leaves the water surface.
# Since the Stone Age human beings have been hunting whales. Ancient whalers used harpoons from boats at sea to spear them out.
# If a dead whale is found on a British beach, the head belongs to the king and the tail to the queen.
# In the 20th century at least 2.8 million whales were killed by humans.
# In religion and mythology, whales feature heavily. The most famous of these is Jonas eaten by a whale.
# Whalers from the 18th and 19th centuries hunted whales for their oil that was used as fuel for lamps and lubricants.
# The most feared whales in fiction are Moby Dick (from the novel of the same name) and Monstro (from Disney's Pinocchio).
# In Jurassic Park, the T-Rex roar is a baby elephant combined with a tiger and an alligator, and its breath is the blow of a whale.
If you are interested then check out our "Facts About Penguins"
Please share these Facts About Whales with your friends and on your social network sites. #Legacyfacts.
Source: 1
0 Comments