About Whales
What is a whale? Sure, I know, whales are whales…but did you know that all dolphins and porpoises are whales too? It's true; they are toothed whales just like the great sperm whale made famous by Moby Dick.
As a matter of fact, the sperm whale is the only toothed whale that is considered a great whale because of its immense size. All of the other great whales like the blue, fin, humpback, gray, and right whale do not even have teeth. Instead they have baleen plates which are used to strain their food which consists of plankton, krill, small schooling fish, and cocopods.
Its hard to imagine that the largest creatures on earth eat some of the smallest, but it’s true and they can eat as much as couple of tons (over 4,000 pounds) per day!
To sum things up: dolphins, porpoises and whales are all whales too.
Orcas however, more commonly known as killer whales (think “Free Willy”), are dolphins too.
I know what you’re thinking, if all whales are whales, and if dolphins and porpoises are whales, then maybe all whales are dolphins too. Right? Wrong!
But still, orcas are dolphins. As a matter of fact, they are the largest of the dolphin species growing to lengths in excess of 30 feet. Next to man, orcas are the most widely distributed mammal on Earth.
In all, there are over 80 species of whales living in our world today. These 80 species of whales make up the classification order known as Cetacea. Click here to learn more…