Whales – Let's Meet Mr. Big Fins

Toothed whales eat fish and squid, which they hunt by the use of echolocation. Baleen whales, such as humpbacks and blues, mainly eat krill when feeding in the higher latitudes.

Whales generally are classed as predators. Their food ranges from microscopic plankton to very large animals.

and a four-chambered heart.

Although whales do not possess fully developed hind limbs, some possess discrete rudimentary appendages, which may contain feet and digits.

Beneath the whales skin lies a layer of fat called blubber, which stores energy and insulates the body.

As with all mammals whales are warm-blooded, nurse their young with milk from mammary glands and have body hair.

All cetaceans have forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with horizontal flukes, and nasal openings on top of the head.

There are two types of whales that are identified by scientists, baleen whales and toothed whales, having each of these categories many sub species.

Whales are descendants of land-living animals which returned to water after living millions of years in land.

They are the only mammals, other than manatees, that live their entire lives in the water, and the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans.