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The orca's teeth are very strong, and its jaws exert a powerful grip; the upper teeth fall into the gaps between the lower teeth when the mouth is closed. The firm middle and back teeth hold prey in place, while the front teeth are inclined slightly forward and outward to protect them from powerful jerking movements. [44]
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]
The name of the genus, Delphinapterus, means "dolphin without fin" (from the Greek δελφίν (delphin), dolphin and απτερος (apteros), without fin) and the species name leucas means "white" (from the Greek λευκας (leukas), white). [14] The Red List of Threatened Species gives both beluga and white whale as common names, though ...
The pygmy right whale shares several characteristics with the right whales, with the exception of having a dorsal fin. Also, pygmy right whales' heads are no more than one quarter the size of their bodies, whereas the right whales' heads are about one-third the size of their bodies. [11] The pygmy right whale is the only extant member of its ...
Articles relating to the toothed whales (odontocetes, parvorder Odontocetiare), a parvorder of cetaceans that includes dolphins, porpoises, and all other whales possessing teeth, such as the beaked whales and the sperm whales. 73 species of toothed whales are described.
Odontocetes, such as the sperm whale, possess teeth with cementum cells overlying dentine cells. Unlike human teeth, which are composed mostly of enamel on the portion of the tooth outside of the gum, whale teeth have cementum outside the gum. Only in larger whales, where the cementum is worn away on the tip of the tooth, does enamel show.
Now, sperm whales are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. So, in order to sell the animal's tooth, it must be over 100 years old, and the owner has to know where it's been since the ...
The existing population, known as orca or killer whale, are a well known apex predator readily distinguished by their great size, 7 to 10 metres long, and mostly black and white coloring. These are highly intelligent and gregarious animals, able to communicate, educate, and cooperate in hunting the largest marine animals.