EnchantedLearning.com ALL ABOUT WHALES!

Whale Glossary

EARTH The Earth is the third planet from the sun.

ECHINODERMATA Echinoderms (meaning "spiny skin") are a phylum of salt-water animals whose living members have five arms or rays (or multiples of five). They are mostly bottom-dwellers. These invertebrates include: starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, crinoids, sea squirts, sea cucumbers, etc.

ECHOLOCATION Whales use echolocation to sense objects. In echolocation, a high-pitched sound (usually clicks) is sent out by the whale. The sound bounces off the object and some returns to the whale. The whale interprets this returning echo to determine the object's shape, direction, distance, and texture. Bats also use echolocation.

ECTOTHERMIC Ectotherms are animals that rely upon the temperature and their behavior (like sunning themselves) to regulate their body temperature. Reptiles are ectothermic.

EGG Some animals hatch from eggs. Fossilized eggs from some prehistoric animals have been found.

ELASMOSAURUS Elasmosaurus was a huge Cretaceous marine reptile - a plesiosaur, not a dinosaur.

EMBRYO An embryo is a very young, unborn organism.

ENDANGERED SPECIES An endangered species is a group of animals that is dwindling in numbers and may go extinct soon. Many species of baleen whales are endangered.

ENDOTHERMIC Endothermic animals generate their own body heat to maintain their body temperature. Birds and mammals are endothermic.

EOCENE EPOCH The Eocene epoch (58-37 million years ago) was the time when primitive whales and many other mammals evolved.

Eon Time Phanerozoic Eon 540 million years ago through today Proterozoic Eon 2.5 billion years ago to 540 million years ago Archaeozoic Eon 3.9 to 2.5 billion years ago Hadean Eon 4.6 to 3.9 billion years ago EON Two or more geological Eras form an Eon, which is the largest division of geological time, lasting hundreds of millions of years.

EPOCH An epoch is a division of a geologic period; it is the smallest division of geologic time, lasting several million years.

ERA Two or more geological periods comprise an Era, which is hundreds of millions of years in duration.

ESTUARY An estuary is where a river meets the seas. Some beluga whales visit estuaries seasonally to breed and feed.

EUBALAENA Eubalaenae is the genus of the right whales. They are baleen whales with no dorsal fin, thick blubber, and large, hairy heads.

EUPHAUSIID Euphausiids are small, plentiful, shrimp-like, crustaceans that live in the open ocean. They are about 1 inch long.

EXOSKELETON An exoskeleton is a tough, structural body armor made of chitin. Arthropods (insects, arachnids, trilobites, crustaceans, etc.) have exoskeletons.

EXTINCT An animal species that is extinct has died out. Most animal species that ever existed have gone extinct, including all the dinosaurs.

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