There she blows!

Sperm whales love to eat squid! This picture is from National Geographic

Hi! Its CasssowaryGirl and today we will learn about…

WHALES ! The blue whales are the largest animal in the world. Blue whales are even larger than dinosaurs! There are two different families of whales – there are the toothed whales and there are the baleen whales.

The toothed whales have teeth and eat things like squid, fish and penguins. Orcas, Sperm Whales and Belugas all have teeth, unlike Blue Whales, Right Whales and Bowhead Whales who have baleen.

The baleen whales eat small things like shrimp and krill. Baleen whales don't have teeth, they have baleen. Baleen is like the bristles on a broom. The whale uses the baleen to catch food. The little critters in the water like the krill all float into the baleen and the whale squirts all the water out and it eats the little animals that are caught in its baleen. 

Baleen whales have large throat pouches for feeding on small sea animals.

 

 

Whales are NOT fish – they are mammals. Sperm Whales are the deepest diving mammal. They can dive down all the way to the twilight zone to catch Giant Squid and Colossal Squid. Down there the whales and the squids have epic battles. Usually the whale wins but sometimes the squid does. Sperm whales find the squids by echolocation. Echolocation uses sounds that the whale makes. The sound bounces off something and then back to the whale. This give the whale a picture of what the sound bounced off of. 

A battle between a Giant Squid and Sperm Whale

Some whales migrate long distances. I will tell you a little bit about the Humpback Whale migration. Whale brains are like compasses – they always remember the route to the place the place they are migrating to. The Humpback Whale travels all the way from British Columbia to Hawaii!

Some whales live in very cold water so whales have lots of fat to keep the whale warm. This is called blubber.
Male whales are called Bulls, female whales are called cows and baby whales are called calves.

Whale sharks are NOT whales. Whale sharks are sharks. Some whales have little animals on them those animals are called barnacles are those bumpy yellow things on whales. Whales tails when they swim they go up and down a fishes tail goes side to side.

Bye bye!
CassowaryGirl

Whale sharks are big like whales, but they are actually sharks!