Whale

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Whales are marine mammals of order Cetacea which are neither dolphins—members, in other words, of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidae—nor porpoises. They include the blue whale, the largest living animal. Orcas, colloquially referred to as "killer whales", and pilot whales have whale in their name but for the purpose of biological classification they are actually dolphins. For centuries whales have been hunted for meat and as a source of valuable raw materials. By the middle of the 20th century, large-scale industrial whaling had left many species seriously endangered.

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News tagged with whales

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Crew plans to cut rope to free Hawaii whale (AP)

Crew plans to cut rope to free Hawaii whale

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- Marine sanctuary officials planned to return to Hawaii waters with modified equipment Friday to try to cut loose a young humpback whale entangled in several hundred yards of heavy plastic rope.


Unknowlingly consuming endangered tuna

Unknowlingly consuming endangered tuna

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2

While most of us would never willingly consume a highly endangered species, doing so might be as easy as plucking sushi from a bento box. New genetic detective work from the Sackler Institute for Comparative ...


elephant seal

Elephant seals take naps while diving

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study may have solved the long-standing question of how elephants sleep during their long migrations at sea, when they can be away from land for up to eight months.


Molecular decay of enamel-specific gene in toothless mammals supports theory of evolution

Molecular Decay of Enamel-Specific Gene in Toothless Mammals Supports Theory of Evolution

Biology / Evolution

created Sep 04, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (17) | comments 42

(PhysOrg.com) -- Biologists at the University of California, Riverside report new evidence for evolutionary change recorded in both the fossil record and the genomes (or genetic blueprints) of living organisms, ...


Krill swarm

Krill 'superswarm' formation investigated

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have been studying how krill form into superswarms, which are among the largest gatherings of living creatures on Earth.


Early whales gave birth on land, fossil find reveals

Early whales gave birth on land, fossil find reveals (Video)

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Feb 04, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (11) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two newly described fossil whales---a pregnant female and a male of the same species--reveal how primitive whales gave birth and provide new insights into how whales made the transition from ...


Hippo ancestry disputed: Researchers rebut family tree involving hippos, whales and pigs

Biology / Evolution

created Mar 18, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Hippos spend lots of time in the water and now it turns out (or researchers argue), they are the closest living relative to whales. It also turns out, the two are swimming in a bit of controversy.


A new-born humpback whale calf being lifted clear of the water to take its very first breath

Baby whale's first breath caught on camera off Australia

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 23, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Australian scientists have photographed a humpback whale helping a newborn calf take what appears to be its first breath, a rare event described as the "Holy Grail" for whale-watchers.


New species discovered on whale skeletons

New species discovered on whale skeletons

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 21, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

When a whale dies, it sinks to the seafloor and becomes food for an entire ecosystem. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have discovered previously unknown species that feed only on dead ...


A blue whale swims in the deep waters off the southern Sri Lankan town of Mirissa

Blue whales disturbed by seismic surveys: scientists

Biology / Ecology

created Sep 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 4

Seismic surveys used for oil and gas prospecting on the sea floor are a disturbance for blue whales, the world's biggest animal and one of its rarest species, biologists reported on Wednesday.


Whale-sized genetic study largest ever for southern hemisphere humpbacks

Whale-sized genetic study largest ever for southern hemisphere humpbacks

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

After 15 years of research in the waters of the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and an international coalition of ...


Feds give sea otters habitat protection in Alaska (AP)

Feds give sea otters habitat protection in Alaska

Biology / Ecology

created Oct 08, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Four years after being placed on the Endangered Species List, the dwindling sea otters of southwest Alaska on Wednesday were given an important recovery tool.


Blue whales re-establishing former migration patterns: research

Blue whales re-establishing former migration patterns: research (w/Video)

Biology / Ecology

created May 11, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Scientists have documented the first known migration of blue whales from the coast of California to areas off British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska since the end of commercial whaling in 1965.


Norway, Japan prop up whaling industry with taxpayer money

Biology / Other

created Jun 19, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The governments of Norway and Japan are using taxpayer money to subsidize their unprofitable whaling industries, according to a first-time analysis of the economics of whaling.


Whales are polite conversationalists

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 26, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

What do a West African drummer and a sperm whale have in common? According to some reports, they can both spot rhythms in the chatter of an ocean crowded with the calls of marine mammals -- a feat impossible for the untrained ...