Sea Creatures - Whale - إختبرني

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SEA CREATURES - WHALE

Updated in: Thu Al ĥijja 1440 / August 2019

Available in the Arabic language as well, click here.

CLASSIFICATION	Sea mammals
WEIGHT	Depends on the type of whale
NUMBER OF TEETH	Two kinds: Baleen (toothless) and toothed
FEMALE GESTATION PERIOD	Around 13 - 14 months
LIFE SPAN	Around 40 years
DIET	Depends on the type of whale

Fact 1: Although they live in the water, whales are classified under mammals. Because the female gives birth. They are found in all oceans.

Fact 2: There are different types of whales, some of them is large, and some of them, like the narwhal (with no dorsal fin and only a few teeth) can be around 3 - 5 meters long.

Fact 3: Scientists have identified 75 types of whales. There are two types of whales: Toothless (baleen), and toothed whales.

Fact 4: Toothless whales are filter feeders, living on shrimplike krill, plankton, and small fish. Which means they have brushlike sheets made out of whalebones, edging the roof of the mouth. With these sheets and their huge tongue, they can separate fish from water, and let the water out of their mouth, while the fish stays in. Baleen whales have narrow throats and paired blowholes. That's why they feed on small fish.

Fact 5: Toothed whales use their theeth to capture the prey, but not to chew it. There are about 65 types of toothed whales.

Fact 6: The largest animal on Earth, the blue whale, eats on one of the smallest creatures in the world, krills. It is because the blue whale is classified under baleen whale. It is about 30 meters long and weighs in about 200 metric tons.

Fact 7: There are three families of baleen whales: The right whale family (the bowhead, or Greenland whale); the gray whale family, with a single species found in the North Pacific Ocean; and the rorqual family (the humpback whale, the sei whale, the minke whale, the Bryde's whale, the fin whale (or common rorqual), and the blue whale).

Fact 8: The sperm whale, also known as "Cachalot", is the largest toothed whale. It can grow to more than 21 meters. The female is smaller. It has one nostril on the left side of its head, and has no dorsal fin. The lower jaw has about 16 - 30 teeth on each side of the jaw, while the upper jaw sheaths to receive the lower teeth. They feed on squid, octopus, and cuttlefish. They are known to be the most aggressive whales, they can battle squid to death. And they are though to live around 80 - 100 years. They are deep divers, normally reaching a depth of 350 meters below the surface, and have been found about 1,000 meters below the surface.

Fact 9: The sperm oil is a solid wax, secured from the blubber and from a huge cavity in the whale's head. It is extracted from the oil by filtration and treatment with potassium hydroxide. The oil is used in making soap, to protect plants from insects, and other things.

Fact 10: The humpback whale has no hump. Male humpbacks produce a repeated pattern of sounds called a song during the mating season; it can be heard from a distance that can reach more than 170 kilometers. the purpose is not clear, as all males in a group sing basically the same song. They feed on krills and small fish. And can be found in all oceans, and can swim near the beaches.

Fact 11: Mating season starts around cold months. Normally a female will give birth to one calf every two years. Some of the toothed female whales can have a gestation period of 18 months.

Fact 12: Calves are born tail first. The new born blue whale is around 7.3 meters and around 3 tons. It continues to grow 30 centimeters each week, and gains about 90 kilograms each day.

Fact 13: The whale is mentioned in The Holy Qur'an. It was part of prophet Yunus's (pbuh) (Jonas) story, and it was his miracle. He was inside the whale, until the whale threw him out at the shore.

Sources:
The Holy Qur'an
www.factmonster.com
www.alencyclopedia.net
www.britannica.com
www.almaany.com
doc.aljazeera.net

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