Whales are a class of mammal that lives exclusively within the world’s oceans. They tend to be extremely large – in fact, the biggest animal ever recorded happens to live in the form of the Blue Whale, dwarfing even the dinosaurs that lived millions of years ago.
Whales also happen to be intelligent creatures, and their curiosity will often see them coming up close to human boats to inspect them. Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about whales.
Efficiency With Oxygen
Many species of whales can stay below the surface of the ocean for over an hour at a time, and this is largely due to both the efficient as well as large the lungs of a whale are. The species that eat squid, for example will need to go to great depths to find their prey, which means having to hold their breath for about an hour and a half. During this time, their breathing slows along with their heart rate, allowing them to consume oxygen at a slower pace.
Whale Communication
People have known for centuries that many whales make sounds, some of which can easily be heard by the human ear. But it’s only been in recent decades that researchers have discovered that whales can talk to each other in complex languages using their songs.
Some species, like the humpback whale, can sometimes spend many hours singing their songs, and some may even go for an entire day. Blue Whales, on the other hand, sing in frequencies that humans are not able to hear, but can be heard by other Blue Whales in ranges of almost 1000 kilometres.
Whale Digestive System
While whales are like humans in a lot of surprising ways, their digestive systems are fairly different to hours, mainly due to the kinds of foods that they eat. One such example is the number of stomachs that a whale can have is typically around 3 or 4, and it’s a trait that they share with their dolphin cousins. But some whale species, such as the Baird’s whale, has 13 stomachs in total, which is needed to help them digest their prey, which primarily consists of deep-sea squid.
Loudest Animals In The World
Along with having the biggest brain of any whale in the ocean, the sperm whale also holds the title for being the loudest animal on the planet. Their songs and calls are so loud, in fact, that they are even louder than a jet plane taking off. The calls that they make can reach 230 decibels, which means that if they were to call next to a human, the human’s eardrums would instantly burst, making it fairly difficult to watch TV or play a few rounds of the online bingo Canada has to offer. It’s so loud that the vibrations would actually be enough to kill an adult human being. Sperm whales often utilise this to stun their prey when they are hunting, making them excellent hunters in the water.
