Definition: whale
A whale is a a very large mammal that lives in the water. Most kinds of whales live in the ocean.
They have a body shaped like a dolphin or porpoise, flippers for front limbs, and a flat, triangular tail. Some kinds of
whales have teeth; others feed with baleen. Baleen are the bony, flexible strips in the upper jaws of whales that feed by
filtering food from ocean water. These whales use baleen to strain large amounts of small food such as shrimp from the
water.
Fun Facts
1. The largest animal ever to live: The Blue Whale is bigger than any dinosaur that ever walked the Earth! A full-grown blue whale can weigh as much as 33 elephants.
2. Heart as big as a car: A blue whale’s heart is about the size of a small car, like a Volkswagen Beetle, and a child could actually crawl through its largest blood vessels!
3. Whales breathe air just like us: Even though they live underwater, whales are mammals. They have to come to the surface to breathe through blowholes on top of their heads.
4. Beautiful underwater singers: Humpback whales can sing complex "songs" that last for up to 30 minutes! Other whales hundreds of miles away can hear these tunes.
5. Sleeping with one eye open: Whales can't fall completely asleep because they have to consciously remember to breathe. They sleep by shutting down only one side of their brain at a time!
6. A tongue heavier than an elephant: A blue whale's tongue alone weighs as much as an entire adult elephant.
7. Huge travelers: Gray whales go on one of the longest annual migrations of any mammal on Earth, swimming up to 12,000 miles round-trip every single year.