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The killer whales regularly demonstrate their competence by chasing seals up shelving gravel beaches, up to the edge of the water. The pursuing whales are occasionally partially thrust out of the sea by a combination of their own impetus and retreating water, and have to wait for the next wave to re-float them and carry them back to sea. [12]
Humpback whale breach sequence. A breach or a lunge is a leap out of the water, also known as cresting. The distinction between the two is fairly arbitrary: cetacean researcher Hal Whitehead defines a breach as any leap in which at least 40% of the animal's body clears the water, and a lunge as a leap with less than 40% clearance. [2]
People from Norway started hunting whales around 4,000 years ago, and people from Japan began hunting whales in the Pacific at least as early as that. [124] Whales are typically hunted for their meat and blubber by aboriginal groups; they used baleen for baskets or roofing, and made tools and masks out of bones. [124]
In the drone video, they observed that younger, smaller whales often swam sideways or facing forward, opening and closing their mouths to find and take in food. Older, bigger whales, meanwhile ...
The sperm whale has a particularly pronounced melon; this is called the spermaceti organ and contains the eponymous spermaceti, hence the name "sperm whale". Even the long tusk of the narwhal is a vice-formed tooth. In many toothed whales, the depression in their skull is due to the formation of a large melon and multiple, asymmetric air bags.
Other whales, such as the gray whale, only use one side of their baleen. These baleen bristles are arranged in plates across the upper jaw of whales. Depending on the species, a baleen plate can be 0.5 to 3.5 m (1.6 to 11.5 ft) long, and weigh up to 90 kg (200 lb). Its hairy fringes are called baleen hair or whalebone hair.
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 ...
Orcas also prey on larger species such as sperm whales, grey whales, humpback whales and minke whales. [ 83 ] [ 39 ] On three separate occasions in 2019 orcas were recorded to have killed blue whales off the south coast of Western Australia, including an estimated 18–22-meter (59–72 ft) individual. [ 88 ]