Portal:Cetaceans
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The Cetaceans Portal
While the majority of cetaceans live in marine environments, a small number reside solely in brackish water or fresh water. Having a cosmopolitan distribution, they can be found in some rivers and all of Earth's oceans, and many species inhabit vast ranges where they migrate with the changing of the seasons.
Cetaceans are famous for their high intelligence, complex social behaviour, and the enormous size of some of the group's members. For example, the blue whale reaches a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 feet) and a weight of 173 tonnes (190 short tons), making it the largest animal known ever to have existed.
There are approximately 89 living species split into two
Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
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The Tay Whale, known locally as the Monster, was a humpback whale that swam into the Firth of Tay of eastern Scotland in 1883. It was harpooned in a hunt, but escaped, and was found floating dead off Stonehaven a week later. It was towed into Dundee by a showman, John Woods, and exhibited on a train tour of Scotland and England.
The Regius Professor of Anatomy at Aberdeen University, John Struthers dissected the whale, much of the time in public with a military band playing in the background, organised by Woods. The decomposing whale made Woods a great deal of money, and Struthers famous. (Full article...)Image 6Image 7Image 8Image 9Image 10
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 ft) and weighing up to 199 tonnes (196 long tons; 219 short tons), it is the largest animal known ever to have existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. Four subspecies are recognized: B. m. musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia in the Southern Ocean, B. m. brevicauda (the pygmy blue whale) in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, and B. m. indica in the Northern Indian Ocean. There is also a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies.
In general, blue whale populations migrate between their summer feeding areas near the poles and their winter breeding grounds near the tropics. There is also evidence of year-round residencies, and partial or age/sex-based migration. Blue whales are filter feeders; their diet consists almost exclusively of krill. They are generally solitary or gather in small groups, and have no well-defined social structure other than mother–calf bonds. The fundamental frequency for blue whale vocalizations ranges from 8 to 25 Hz and the production of vocalizations may vary by region, season, behavior, and time of day. Orcas are their only natural predators. (Full article...)Image 11Image 12gill netting operations. (Full article...)Image 13AMany more transitional fossils have been discovered since then, and there is now abundant evidence of how all classes of vertebrates are related, including many transitional fossils. Specific examples of class-level transitions are: tetrapods and fish, birds and dinosaurs, and mammals and "mammal-like reptiles". (Full article...)Image 14Image 15even-toed ungulates, and their closest living relatives the hippopotamuses, from which they diverged about 40 million years ago. Specific types of dolphins can be pink.)
River dolphins are relatively small compared to other dolphins, having evolved to survive in warm, shallow water and strong river currents. They range in size from the 5-foot (1.5 m) long South Asian river dolphin to the 8-foot (2.4 m) and 220-pound (100 kg) Amazon river dolphin. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that the males are larger than the females. They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers. River dolphins use their conical-shaped teeth and long beaks to capture fast-moving prey in murky water. They have well-developed hearing that is adapted for both air and water; they do not really rely on vision since the water they swim in is usually very muddy. Instead, they tend to rely on echolocation when hunting and navigating. These species are well-adapted to living in warm, shallow waters, and, unlike other cetaceans, have little to no blubber. (Full article...Selected picture
When
spyhopping, a whale rises and holds a vertical position partially out of the water, often exposing its entire rostrum and head. It is visually akin to a human treading water. Spyhopping is controlled and slow, and can last for minutes at a time if the whale is sufficiently inquisitive about whatever it is viewing.More did you know...
- ...dolphins often leap clear of the water when travelling at speed. This is because the densityof water is much greater than that of air and they are able to travel faster by leaping out of the water.
- ...both crustaceans that inhabit folds in the skinof whales and dolphins, feeding off the loose skin.
- ...whale and dolphin mothers ‘suckle’ their young underwater! Mothers have muscular mammary glands and ‘squirt’ their milk into the calf’s mouth, to ensure that the calf takes in as much of the energy rich milkas possible.
- ...on average, a whale or dolphin will eat four to five percent of its body weight in food per day. That means that a 100 ton blue whale will eat almost five tons of krill per day, or that a 200kg bottlenose dolphin will eat 10kg of fish per day!
- ...newborn cetacean calves ‘suckle’ three to four times each hour and will suckle from their mothers for six months or more.
Things you can do..
Here are some
you can do.- Patrol: Look through the Category:Cetaceans for recent changes
- Assessment: Unassessed cetacea articles and unknown-importance cetacea articles.
- Copyedit/Formatting:
Bottlenose dolphin,
Beached whale, Cetacea
- Expand:
Hector's beaked whale,
Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale,
Shepherd's beaked whale,
Archaeoceti,
Cumberland Sound beluga, Blubber, Baiji, Humpback dolphin,Amazon river dolphin - Verify:
Spinner dolphin, Whale, Dolphin, Cetacea - Stubs:
Bolivian river dolphin (new species), Cephalorhynchus - Images: Pictures of the baiji are wanted.
General images - load new batch
The following are images from various cetacean-related articles on Wikipedia.-
Image 1A phylogenetic tree showing the relationships among cetacean families. (from Evolution of cetaceans)
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Image 2Pakicetus attocki skeleton (from Evolution of cetaceans)
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Image 3Common minke whale illustration
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Image 7Possible relationships between cetaceans and other ungulate groups. (from Evolution of cetaceans)
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Image 8ichthyosaurs (extinct marine reptiles) share a number of unique adaptations for fully aquatic lifestyle and are frequently used as extreme examples of convergent evolution (from Evolution of cetaceans)
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Image 9The nose of the whale is filled with a waxy substance that was widely used in candles, oil lamps, and lubricants (from Toothed whale)
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Image 10Baleen whales vary considerably in size and shape, depending on their feeding behavior. (from Baleen whale)
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Image 11North Atlantic right whale illustration
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Image 12Species of the infraorder Cetacea (from Evolution of cetaceans)
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Image 13Pygmy right whale illustration
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Image 14Diagram illustrating sound generation, propagation and reception in a toothed whale. Outgoing sounds are red and incoming ones are green (from Toothed whale)
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Image 15An orca by the name of Ulises performing at SeaWorld, 2009 (from Toothed whale)
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Image 18Antarctic minke whale illustration
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Image 19Female right whale with calf
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Image 20South Atlantic right whale illustration
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Image 22Bowhead whale illustration
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Image 25Bryde's whale (rorqual) (from Baleen whale)
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Image 26A protest against Japan's scientific whaling
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Image 27Humpback whale illustration
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Image 28Archaeomysticetes, like Janjucetus, had teeth.
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Image 29Sei whale illustration
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Image 30Spectrogram of dolphin vocalizations. Whistles, whines, and clicks are visible as upside down V's, horizontal striations, and vertical lines, respectively. (from Toothed whale)
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Image 31The skeleton of a bowhead whale with the hind limb and pelvic bone structure circled in red. This bone structure stays internal during the entire life of the species. (from Evolution of cetaceans)
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Image 33Restoration ofJanjucetus hunderi (from Baleen whale)
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Image 34Gray whale illustration
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Image 35The heart of a blue whale with a person standing next to it
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Image 37A humpback whale skeleton. Notice how the jaw is split into two.
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Image 38Archaeocetes (like this Basilosaurus) had a heterodont dentition (from Evolution of cetaceans)
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Image 39World population graph of blue whales
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Image 40Atlantic white-sided dolphin caught in a drive hunt in Hvalba on the Faroe Islands being taken away with a forklift (from Toothed whale)
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Image 41Orange whale lice on a right whale
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Image 42Fossil of Squalodon (from Toothed whale)
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Image 43Biosonar by cetaceans (from Toothed whale)
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Image 44Humpback whales lunge-feeding in the course of bubble net fishing
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Image 45Blue whale illustration
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Image 46Their eyes are relatively small for their size.
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Image 47Fin whale illustration
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Image 48Eden's whale illustration
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the three dolphins on the coat of arms of Anguilla represent "unity, strength and endurance", which is also the motto of the territory?
- ... that one of the first researchers to propose dolphin-assisted therapy for humans later renounced it?
- ... that one can swim with humpback whales in the Niue Nukutuluea Multiple-Use Marine Park?
- ... that the South Asian river dolphin is nearly blind and relies on echolocation for navigation?
- ... that Celia Kaye won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 1965 for her starring role in Island of the Blue Dolphins?
Selected media
Problems playing these files? See media help.List articles
- List of cetaceans
- List of extinct cetaceans
- List of whale species
- List of dolphin species
- List of porpoise species
- List of whale vocalizations
Related portals
WikiProjects
The content you are reading was created by Wikipedia volunteers. See WikiProject Cetaceans for more.
RelatedWikiProjectsinclude:- See also: Wikispecies, a Wikimedia project dedicated to the classification of species.
Cetacean articles
Whale species
Andrews' Beaked Whale•Balaenoptera omurai• Beluga •Blainville's Beaked Whale• •Bottlenose Whale•Bowhead Whale•Bryde's Whale•Cuvier's Beaked Whale•Dwarf Sperm Whale• •Gervais' Beaked Whale•Giant beaked whale•Ginkgo-toothed Beaked Whale•Gray Whale•Gray's Beaked Whale•Hector's Beaked Whale•Hubbs' Beaked Whale• •Layard's Beaked Whale•Longman's Beaked Whale•Melon-headed Whale•Minke Whale• Narwhal •Perrin's Beaked Whale•Pygmy Beaked Whale•Pygmy Killer Whale•Pygmy Right Whale•Pygmy Sperm Whale• • •Shepherd's Beaked Whale•Sowerby's Beaked Whale•Spade Toothed Whale• •Stejneger's Beaked Whale•True's Beaked WhaleDolphin species
Atlantic Spotted Dolphin•Atlantic White-sided Dolphin•Australian Snubfin Dolphin• Baiji • Boto •Chilean Dolphin•Clymene Dolphin•Commerson's Dolphin•Common Bottlenose Dolphin• •False Killer Whale•Fraser's Dolphin•Ganges and Indus River Dolphin•Heaviside's Dolphin•Hector's Dolphin•Hourglass Dolphin• Humpback dolphin •Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin•Irrawaddy Dolphin• •La Plata Dolphin•Long-beaked Common Dolphin• Long-finned pilot whale •Pacific White-sided Dolphin•Pantropical Spotted Dolphin•Peale's Dolphin•Pygmy Killer Whale• Right whale dolphin •Risso's Dolphin•Rough-toothed Dolphin•Short-beaked Common Dolphin• Short-finned pilot whale •Spinner Dolphin•Striped Dolphin• Tucuxi •White-beaked DolphinPorpoise species
Burmeister's Porpoise•Dall's Porpoise•Finless Porpoise•Harbour Porpoise•Spectacled Porpoise• VaquitaOther articles
Aboriginal whaling • Ambergris • Animal echolocation • Archaeoceti • Baleen • Baleen whale •
Beached whale•Beaked Whale•Blowhole (biology)• Blubber • Bottlenose dolphin • Callosity • Cephalorhynchus • Cetacea • Cetacean intelligence • Cetology • Cetology of Moby-Dick • Common dolphin •Cumberland Sound Beluga• Dolphin • Dolphinarium • Dolphin drive hunting • Evolution of cetaceans • Exploding whale • Harpoon • History of whaling • Human–animal communication • Institute of Cetacean Research • International Whaling Commission • Lagenorhynchus •Melon (whale)•Mesoplodont Whale•Military dolphin• Moby-Dick • Mocha Dick • Monodontidae • Oceanic dolphin • Orcaella • • Porpoise • River dolphin •River Thames Whale•Rorquals•Sperm whale family• Sperm whaling • Spermaceti • Stenella • Tay Whale • The Marine Mammal Center •Toothed Whale•U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program• Whale • Whaling •Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society•Whale surfacing behaviour• Whale oil • Whale louse •Whale song• Whale watching •WolphinCategories
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