EnchantedLearning.com ALL ABOUT WHALES!

BASILOSAURUS Basilosaurus cetoides was an Archaeoceti whale, a primitive, extinct, toothed whale with a pointed snout from the Eocene epoch, 50 million years ago. It was about 45-70 feet (14-21 m) long.	BELUGA WHALE Delphinapterus leucas is a toothed whale that is white as an adult, grows to be about 15 feet (4.6 m) long and weighs about 3,300 pounds (1500 kg). They live in frigid arctic and subarctic waters, but many migrate to warmer water in the summer. They are also known as "sea canaries" because of their songs.	BLUE WHALE Balaenoptera musculus is the largest animal that ever lived on Earth - even bigger than any of the dinosaurs. Blue whales are up to 110 feet (34 m) long and weigh up to 174 tons (180,000 kg). They eat krill and small fish. Blue whales are an endangered species.
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN Tursiops truncatus is a small cetacean that has a long, beaklike snout, a falcate (sickle-shaped) dorsal fin, and conical teeth. It is a toothed whale (Odontoceti).	BOWHEAD WHALE Balaena mysticetus is a baleen whale that lives only in the Arctic and is rich in blubber. It has a large, bow-shaped head; the head is up to 40% of its entire length. Bowhead whales are about 50-60 feet (15-18.5 m) long and weigh about 60-80 tons. They are an endangered species.	DWARF SPERM WHALE Kogia simus is a small toothed whale. It that has a very large head and large teeth. It is about 9 feet long (2.7 m). They are deep divers and eat squid, fish, octopus, eels, etc.
FIN WHALE Balaenoptera physalus is a very large baleen whale, the second largest animal in the world. They are about 70+ feet (21 m) long. They have 55-100 throat grooves and 260-474 fine baleen plates.	GRAY WHALE Eschrichtius robustus is a baleen whale that is about 45 feet (14 m) long and weighs up to 70,000 pounds. They are benthic feeders (bottom feeders). Gray whales migrate from Alaska to the Baja peninsula in winter. They are a protected species.	HUMPBACK WHALE Megaptera novaeangliae is baleen whale with a hump as a part of its dorsal fin. Humpback behavior includes acrobatic leaping out of the water, slapping of its fins and flukes on the water, and a song that includes long sequences of squeaks, grunts, and other sounds. They eat mostly krill, plankton, and herring. It is a protected species.
MINKE WHALE Balaenoptera acutorostrata is the smallest baleen whale. It has a huge head - up to one quarter of the length of its body. It weighs up to 9.5 tons and is up to 30 feet (9 m) long.	NARWHAL Monodon monoceros is a toothed whale from the Arctic that lives in small pods. The males have a large, spiral tooth. They eat fish, squid, and crustaceans.	ORCA or KILLER WHALE Orcinus orca are toothed whales, powerful carnivores that eat fish, squid, and marine mammals. They live in small pods and grow to be about 27 feet long (8 m) and weigh about 8,000 - 12,000 pounds (3600-5400 kg).
PILOT WHALE Genus Globicephala is about 20 feet (6 m) long. It eats squid. Pilots sometimes beach themselves - it isn't known why.	PYGMY SPERM WHALE Kogia breviceps is the smallest whale. It is a toothed whale that has a very large head and large teeth. It is about 13 feet long (4 m). They are deep divers and eat squid, fish, octopus, eels, etc.	RIGHT WHALE Right whales (Genus Eubalaena) are baleen whales that are black with some white on their chins, have large heads (that are up to 1/3 of their body length), and weigh up to 100 tons. They are slow swimmers and migrate seasonally. They are very rare and are an endangered species.
SEI WHALE Balaenoptera borealis is a dark-gray, stream-lined baleen whale that is 50-60 feet (15.5-18 m) long. It swims in small pods of 3-5 whales and has very fine baleen that traps very small particles of food.	SPERM WHALE Physeter macrocephalus is the largest toothed whale. The sperm whale has a very large head and brain, large teeth, is gray in color, averages about 50-60 feet (16-18.5 m) long, and weighs about 15-20 tons. It is the deepest diving whale; it can dive down to more than 3,280 feet (1,000 m). It is a bottom feeder that eat squid, fish, octopus, eels, etc. Sperm whales have only one blowhole. They produce ambergris. The sperm whale is an endangered species.

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