Whales are one of the most amazing mammals inhabiting the water expanses of our planet. These animals are the largest of all known to mankind today. Moreover, the ocean is still not fully explored, which is why scientists periodically discover new species of toothed whales, usually small, but still. Whaling today has led to the fact that the species of whales are constantly decreasing, as well as their population, which is very sad.
Classification
All whales are divided into two large groups, the so-called suborders. Although it is worth noting that scientists distinguish three suborders. One of them is ancient whales. All representatives of this group died out long ago, and there is no special sense in describing them. We will talk about animals that still swim in the oceans and seas, although there is a threat of their extinction.
One of these suborders is baleen whales. In addition, they are often called "real whales." The second suborder - toothedwhales. Smaller representatives, which include dolphins and porpoises, but more on that later. I would like to note that different types of whales are being destroyed. In particular, this applies to those who have the greatest value in the fishery. This is a blue whale, fin whale, humpback whale, etc.
Whale species: list, brief description
We will start with baleen whales as the largest and most ancient. This includes a wide variety of whale species that are worthy of your attention. It is easy to guess that you can recognize such an animal by its mustache in its mouth. By the way, whalebone is also valued, so these animals often become prey for poachers. The largest representative of this suborder is the blue whale. The largest recorded individual reaches a length of about 30 meters and weighs 150 tons. Moreover, these are completely peaceful animals, the diet of which for the most part is plankton and mollusks.
The bowhead whale is a prominent representative of baleen whales. The length of this giant sometimes reaches 20 meters, the body of the animal is black, without stripes. It is noteworthy that the head is approximately 30% of the total length of the whale. It lives exclusively in the Arctic seas. Today it is an almost extinct species, which is extremely rare. The reason for this was whaling.
Pygmy and right whales
The southern right whale is somewhat similar to the bowhead whale in both appearance and size. Therefore, an inexperienced person can confuse them. Although it is easy to guess that the habitatanimals is very different. Southern right whales cannot be found in the Arctic seas, just as bowhead whales cannot be seen in the temperate zone of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. From about the 10th century AD, whaling for right whales only expanded. Today, these animals are under full protection, judging by the latest data, the breeding trends of the genus are positive.
All types of whales listed in this article are amazing and unique. Take, for example, the pygmy whale. It was named so because of its small size. Usually individuals do not grow in length more than 6 meters. But if you do not take this parameter into account, then the rest of the animal is no different from its relatives.
Endangered whales
The family of gray whales is one of the most exterminated at present. These are rather large representatives, 15 meters long, without a dorsal fin. In the 18th century, the population numbered approximately 30 thousand individuals. As a result of active whaling, the number of gray whales by 1947 was reduced to 250 individuals. After that, the family of gray whales was taken under constant protection, today there are about 6 thousand of these animals.
It is impossible not to mention the minke family. These include humpback whales and real minke whales. Both those and others are endangered species of whales. If back in the 30s of our century there were about 250 thousand fin whales in the Antarctic, today this figure is five times less. Of the 100,000 blue whales that once lived in Antarctica in the 1930s, by 1962only 1,000-3,000 individuals survived. The situation is approximately the same with sei whales and humpback whales, which are under constant protection. The largest representative of striped whales is blue. It is also the only whale species that leads a nomadic lifestyle.
Toothed whales: types and descriptions
The suborder of toothed whales has a large number of families. They are united by the presence of teeth, although the sizes, as well as their number, can differ significantly. Almost all representatives have a small body size. The only exception is the sperm whale. Of course, oceanic dolphins and porpoises are the best known of the toothed whale suborder. Most of them are small animals.
The easiest way to identify a white whale is by its appearance. You can do this by the color of his skin. Beluga whales are small, usually up to 5 meters. They are found almost everywhere. Sometimes these whales swim where they cannot live. It is impossible not to single out the only representative of the genus of narwhals - the narwhal. They are somewhat similar to white whales. True, narwhals have a 2-2.5-meter tusk on their heads, which is inherent only to males. The length of the animal is about 5 meters.
Porpoises and dolphins
So we come to the dolphin subfamily. It should be noted that it includes a large number of species and even more subspecies. Only about half of today's known whales. For example, an ordinary brown dolphin or simply a porpoise is usually no more than 2 meters in length. The back of the animal is black, and the bellypractically white. Dolphins for the most part prefer warm waters and temperate latitudes. Often swim far up the rivers. Interestingly, a special race of porpoises lives in the Black Sea.
The following types of porpoises live in different parts of the seas and oceans:
- California;
- spectacle;
- black;
- black featherless and others
The appearance of all species differs insignificantly, as well as the size. In general, animals, although predatory, are very peaceful. Studies have shown that some species of whales and dolphins have a highly developed brain. What makes dolphins really amazing is their ability to communicate - echolocation. This is a kind of language, most of the sounds of which are incomprehensible to humans even today.
Genus of sperm whales
As noted above, sperm whales are the real giants among all toothed whales. In length, animals can reach about 20 meters. These are gregarious whales that can be found in all the oceans of planet Earth. The exceptions are females and young whales, which prefer to be in warm waters. Today it is not a fully explored species. In particular, it is not known if males return from their distant migrations. Scientists have not yet figured out why they swim so far, although the most likely theory is that they are looking for food. In commercial terms, the sperm whale is very valuable. This became especially noticeable in the yearsafter WWII. Near the coasts of Chile and Peru, these animals, in particular, females, were practically destroyed, which seriously threatened the population. Even today, in all the oceans of the world, toothed whales are being hunted and exterminated. Animal species are of no particular importance to humans.
Conclusion
Here we have examined the main types of whales. The names of these animals were assigned by more than one people of the world and not only in the 21st century. Unfortunately, even today there is an active fishery. How many types of whales are left today? About 40, and despite the fact that before there were more than a hundred. It is one thing when this process is controlled, and quite another when there is uncontrolled capture and destruction.
Of course, one can endlessly talk about the fact that insulin and other hormones are extracted from the brain of a whale, and vitamin A is extracted from the liver. In addition, meat is used to make expensive sausages. But all this can be found in nature without destroying various species of whales and without reducing their population. Well, that's all that can be said about whales and the diversity of their species. For the most part, these are calm animals that rarely attack humans.
