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Cetacea. Cetacea ( / sɪˈteɪʃə /; from Latin cetus ' whale ', from Ancient Greek κῆτος ( kêtos) ' huge fish, sea monster ') [3] is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often ...
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine (saltwater) ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans ( whales, dolphins and porpoises ), pinnipeds ( seals, sea lions and walruses ), sirenians ( manatees and dugongs ), sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine ...
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and porpoises. Dolphins and porpoises may be considered whales from a formal, cladistic perspective.
Cetology (from Greek κῆτος, kētos, "whale"; and -λογία, -logia) or whalelore (also known as whaleology) is the branch of marine mammal science that studies the approximately eighty species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises in the scientific order Cetacea. Cetologists, or those who practice cetology, seek to understand and explain ...
Scientists have accomplished a whale of a feat. They’ve identified previously unknown complexity in whale communication by analyzing thousands of recorded sequences of sperm whale clicks with ...
The evolution of cetaceans is thought to have begun in the Indian subcontinent from even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla) 50 million years ago (mya) and to have proceeded over a period of at least 15 million years. [2] Cetaceans are fully aquatic marine mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla and branched off from other artiodactyls around 50 mya.
Dolphin. A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the clade Odontoceti ( toothed whale ). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins ), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the brackish dolphins), and possibly extinct Lipotidae (baiji or Chinese river dolphin).
For The Avengers episode, see Killer Whale ( The Avengers). The orca ( Orcinus orca ), or killer whale, is a toothed whale that is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the only extant species in the genus Orcinus. Orcas are recognizable by their black-and-white patterned body.