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Whales have two flippers on the front, and a tail fin. These flippers contain four digits. Although whales do not possess fully developed hind limbs, some, such as the sperm whale and bowhead whale, possess discrete rudimentary appendages, which may contain feet and digits.
It is known that modern mysticetes have teeth initially and then develop baleen plate germs in utero, but lose their dentition and have only baleen during their juvenile years and adulthood. However, developing mysticetes do not produce tooth enamel because at some point this trait evolved to become a pseudogene. This is likely to have occurred ...
Beaked whales are unique among toothed whales in that most species have only one pair of teeth. The teeth are tusk-like, but are visible only in males, which are presumed to use these teeth in combat for females for reproductive rights. In females, the teeth do not develop and remain hidden in the gum tissues. [12]
Generally their teeth have evolved to catch fish, squid or other marine invertebrates, not for chewing them, so prey is swallowed whole. Teeth are shaped like cones (dolphins and sperm whales), spades , pegs , tusks or variable (beaked whale males). Female beaked whales' teeth are hidden in the gums and are not visible, and most male beaked ...
They may be numerous, with some dolphins bearing over 100 teeth in their jaws. At the other extreme are the narwhals with their single long tusks and the almost toothless beaked whales with tusk-like teeth only in males. [20] In most beaked whales the teeth are seen to erupt in the lower jaw, and primarily occurs at the males sexual maturity. [21]
Scientists think they might have finally learned the secret to how whales sing their complicated songs. We knew whales made a vast array of vocalizations, called songs, that can carry for ...
The skim-feeders are right whales, gray whales, pygmy right whales, and sei whales (which also lunge feed). To feed, skim-feeders swim with an open mouth, filling it with water and prey. Prey must occur in sufficient numbers to trigger the whale's interest, be within a certain size range so that the baleen plates can filter it, and be slow ...
True’s beaked whales sometimes breach Surfacing patterns of True’s beaked whales. This whale has a normal mesoplodont body, except that it is rotund in the middle and tapering towards the ends. The two distinctive teeth on the males are small and set on the very end of the beak (however additional teeth have been recorded [5]). The melon is ...