Whale –
Timi or Whale is a mammal living in the seas, which is included in the order of Cetacea from the point of view of biological classification. Whales are often of enormous size and, like all mammals, can only breathe air (i.e. cannot breathe underwater). Whales have a breathing hole at their ends and they draw breath from it by coming to the surface of the water from time to time. The blue titi is the largest known animal in the world and is several times larger than elephants and ancient dinosaurs. The blue titi can be up to 30 m (98 ft) long and weigh 180 tonnes, while smaller species of titi such as the pygmy sperm titi are only 3.5 m (11 ft) long.
Whales inhabit seas and oceans around the world and are estimated to number in the millions, but industrial hunting in the 20th century has threatened many species with permanent extinction. After that, hunting whales was banned in many countries, which has helped some to emerge from this danger.
Etymology and Definitions –
The word “whale” comes from Old, Proto-Germanic *hwalaz, from Proto Indo-European *(s)qual-o-, meaning “large sea fish”. Proto-Germanic *hvalz is also the source of Old Saxon Hval, Old Norse Hvalr, Hvalfiskar, Swedish Val, Middle Dutch Wall, Walvis, Dutch Walvis, Old High German Wall, and German Wall. The obsolete “whalefish” has a similar etymology, indicating a time when whales were considered fish. Other archaic English forms include waal, whale, whale, whale, whale, wheel, etc.
The term "whale" Is sometimes used interchangeably with dolphin and porpoise, acting as a synonym for cetacea. Six species of dolphins have the word “whale” in their names, which are collectively known as blackfish: the orca, or killer whale, the melon-head whale, the pygmy killer whale, the false killer whale, and two species of pilot whale. All of these are classified under the Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins) family. There is a different reason for this for each species, for example, the killer whale was named “ballena asesina” ‘killer whale’ by Spanish sailors.
The term "great whale" includes those currently regulated by the International Whaling Commission: the Odontoceti family (sperm whales); and the Mysticeti families Balaenidae (right and bowhead whales), Escrichtidae (grey whales), and some Balaenopteridae (minke, Brydea, sei, blue, and fin; not Eden’s and Omura’s whales).
Classification and Development –
• Phylogeny –
Whales are part of the clade Laurasiatheria, a large-scale terrestrial mammal. Whales do not form clades or orders; The infraorder Cetacea includes dolphins and porpoises, which are not considered whales in the informal sense. Phylogenetic tree showing the relationships of whales and other mammals, with whale groups marked in green.
• Mystic –
The mystic is also known as the baleen whale. They have a pair of blowholes side by side and lack teeth; Instead, they have cylindrical plates that form a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw made of keratin, which they use to filter plankton from the water. Some whales, such as the humpback, live in the polar regions where they feed on reliable sources of schooling fish and krill.
• Odontoceti –
Odontocetes are better known as toothed whales; They have teeth and only one blowhole. They rely on their well-developed sonar to find their way in the water. Toothed whales use melons to send ultrasonic clicks. Sound waves travel through water. Upon hitting an object in the water, the sound waves bounce back to the whale. These vibrations are received through fatty tissues in the jaw, which are then passed to the ear bone and to the brain where the vibrations are interpreted.
Development –
Whales are descended from land-dwelling mammals of the artiodactyl order (the even-toed ones). They are related to Indohyus, an extinct chevrotain-like ungulate, from which they diverged about 48 million years ago. Primitive cetaceans, or archaeocetes, first entered the ocean about 49 million years ago and became fully aquatic after 5–10 million years. What defines an archetype is the presence of anatomical features typical for cheetahs, along with other primitive features not found in modern cetaceans, such as visible feet or asymmetric teeth.
Whales split into two distinct lineages around 34 mya – the baleen whales (Mystocetes) and the toothed whales (Odontocetes).
Why do whales explode after death? –
Whales are the largest animals on Earth, larger than the largest ever living dinosaurs. The heart of these whales is equal to that of a Toyota Corolla car. And their tongue can be equal to the weight of an elephant. Even a blue whale can weigh up to 200 tons. When a whale dies, the body of that whale becomes food for many fish, but sometimes due to waves and winds, their body comes to the beach.
When all the internal organs of the whale start rotting, gases start forming inside it and due to the thick skin of the whale, the gases are not able to come out, due to which their body swells and bursts after a limit. So when a whale washes up after death, biologists cut up its body so it doesn’t explode.
Whale blast accident -
Once in 2004, a 60-ton heavy whale was found dead off the coast of Taiwan, which was decided to be taken to the university for research the whale was being loaded onto a truck by a crane but the whale exploded on the way. , Nearby shops and cars were covered in blood.
By Chanchal Sailani | January 10, 2023, | Editor at Gurugrah_Blogs.
