Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. They are the largest mammals, the largest vertebrates, and the largest animals in the world. The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, to just the larger ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea. The latter definition is the one followed here. Whales are those cetaceans which are neither dolphins (i.e. members of the families Delp ...

Including:

• Whale - Origins and taxonomy
• Whale - Anatomy
• Whale - Behaviour
• Whale - Whale intelligence
• Whale - Whales and Humans
• Whale - Whales in culture

Read more here: » Whale: Encyclopedia - Whale

For more material in this area, focusing more on dolphins, see cetacean intelligence. Many people believe that cetaceans in general, and whales in particular, are highly intelligent animals. This belief has become a central argument against whaling (killing whales for food or other commercial reasons). There is no universally agreed definition of "intelligence." One commonly used definition is "the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience ...

See also:

Whale, Whale - Origins and taxonomy, Whale - Anatomy, Whale - Behaviour, Whale - Whale intelligence, Whale - Whales and Humans, Whale - Whales in culture

Read more here: » Whale: Encyclopedia II - Whale - Whale intelligence

The King James Version of the Bible mentions whales four times: "And God created great whales" (Genesis 1:21); "Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? (Job 7:12); "Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas (Ezekiel 32:2); and "For as Jonas [sic] was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights ...

See also:

Whale, Whale - Origins and taxonomy, Whale - Anatomy, Whale - Behaviour, Whale - Whale intelligence, Whale - Whales and Humans, Whale - Whales in culture

Read more here: » Whale: Encyclopedia II - Whale - Whales in culture

Main article Whaling Most species of large whales are endangered as a result of large-scale whaling during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For centuries large whales have been hunted for oil, meat, baleen and ambergris (a perfume ingredient from the intestine of sperm whales). Until the middle of the 20th century, whaling left many populations nearly or fully extinct. The International Whaling Commission introduced an open ended moratorium on all commercial whaling in 1986. For various reasons some exceptions to this mo ...

See also:

Whale, Whale - Origins and taxonomy, Whale - Anatomy, Whale - Behaviour, Whale - Whale intelligence, Whale - Whales and Humans, Whale - Whales in culture

Read more here: » Whale: Encyclopedia II - Whale - Whales and Humans

Main article: Whale behaviour Whales are broadly classed as predators, but their food ranges from microscopic plankton to very large fish. Males are called bulls; females, cows. The young are called calves. Because of their environment (and unlike many animals), whales are conscious breathers: They have to decide when to breathe. So how do they sleep? All mammals sleep, and so do whales, but they cannot afford to fall into an unconscious state for too long, since they need to be conscious in order to breathe. The solutio ...

See also:

Whale, Whale - Origins and taxonomy, Whale - Anatomy, Whale - Behaviour, Whale - Whale intelligence, Whale - Whales and Humans, Whale - Whales in culture

Read more here: » Whale: Encyclopedia II - Whale - Behaviour

Whales, along with most dolphins and porpoises, are descendants of land-living mammals, most likely of the Artiodactyl order. They entered the water roughly 50 million years ago. See evolution of cetaceans for the details [1]. Cetaceans are divided into two suborders: The baleen whales are characterized by the baleen, a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw made of keratin, which they use to filter plankton from the water. They are the largest whales. The toothed whales have teeth and prey on fish, squid, or both. An outstanding ability of this group is to sense their surrou ...

See also:

Whale, Whale - Origins and taxonomy, Whale - Anatomy, Whale - Behaviour, Whale - Whale intelligence, Whale - Whales and Humans, Whale - Whales in culture

Read more here: » Whale: Encyclopedia II - Whale - Origins and taxonomy

Like all mammals, whales breathe air into lungs, are warm-blooded (that is, endothermic), breast-feed their young, and have some (although very little) hair. The whales' ancestors lived on land, and their adaptions to a fully aquatic life are quite striking: The body is fusiform, resembling the streamlined form of a fish. The forelimbs, also called flippers, are paddle-shaped. The end of the tail holds the fluke, or tail fins, which provide propulsion by vertical movement. Although whales generally do not possess hind limbs, some whales (suc ...

See also:

Whale, Whale - Origins and taxonomy, Whale - Anatomy, Whale - Behaviour, Whale - Whale intelligence, Whale - Whales and Humans, Whale - Whales in culture

Read more here: » Whale: Encyclopedia II - Whale - Anatomy