This is a Great Post on Whales with Photos, Videos, and Facts.
I must WARN You that I have put a warning on the last video for horrific violence.
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Enjoy the Fantasy!
The beluga, or white whale, is one of the smallest species of whale. Their distinctive color and prominent foreheads make them easily identifiable.
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry
Belugas are also called white whales, and their unusual color makes them one of the most familiar and easily distinguishable of all the whales. Calves are born gray or even brown and only fade to white as they become sexually mature around five years of age.
White whales are smallish, ranging from 13 to 20 feet (4 to 6.1 meters) in length. They have rounded foreheads and no dorsal fin.
Belugas generally live together in small groups known as pods. They are social animals and very vocal communicators that employ a diversified language of clicks, whistles, and clangs. Belugas can also mimic a variety of other sounds.
These whales are common in the Arctic Ocean's coastal waters, though they are found in subarctic waters as well. Arctic belugas migrate southward in large herds when the sea freezes over. Animals trapped by Arctic ice often die, and they are prey for polar bears, killer whales, and for Arctic people. They are hunted by indigenous people of the north, and by commercial fisheries that brought some populations, such as those in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to near collapse.
Beluga feed on fish, crustaceans, and worms. The whale is related to the tusked "unicorn" whale known as the narwhal. The beluga is not related to the sturgeon of the same name, which has been heavily fished for its famous caviar. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/beluga-whale/
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A barnacle-encrusted gray whale pokes its head above water in Scammon Lagoon off Baja California.
Photograph courtesy NOAA
Gray whales are often covered with parasites and other organisms that make their snouts and backs look like a crusty ocean rock.
The whale uses its snout to forage by dislodging tiny creatures from the seafloor. It then filters these morsels with its baleen—a comblike strainer of plates in the upper jaw. A piece of gray whale baleen, also called whalebone, is about 18 inches (46 centimeters) long and has a consistency much like a fingernail. Whalebone was once used to make ladies' corsets and umbrella ribs.
The gray whale is one of the animal kingdom's great migrators. Traveling in groups called pods, some of these giants swim 12,430 miles (20,000 kilometers) round-trip from their summer home in Alaskan waters to the warmer waters off the Mexican coast. The whales winter and breed in the shallow southern waters and balmier climate. Other gray whales live in the seas near Korea.
Like all whales, gray whales surface to breathe, so migrating groups are often spotted from North America's west coast. These whales were once the target of extensive hunting, and by early in the 20th century they were in serious danger of extinction.
Today gray whales are protected by international law, and their numbers have grown. In 1994, the gray whale was removed from the United States endangered species list .http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/gray-whale/
Largest of the dolphins, the killer whale, or orca, is a highly successful predator, feeding on fish, seals, and sometimes whales.
Photograph by Gerard Lacz/Animals Animals—Earth Scenes
Orcas, or killer whales, are the largest of the dolphins and one of the world's most powerful predators. They feast on marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, and even whales, employing teeth that can be four inches (ten centimeters) long. They are known to grab seals right off the ice. They also eat fish, squid, and seabirds.
Though they often frequent cold, coastal waters, orcas can be found from the polar regions to the Equator.
Killer whales hunt in deadly pods, family groups of up to 40 individuals. There appear to be both resident and transient pod populations of killer whales. These different groups may prey on different animals and use different techniques to catch them. Resident pods tend to prefer fish, while transient pods target marine mammals. All pods use effective, cooperative hunting techniques that some liken to the behavior of wolf packs.
Whales make a wide variety of communicative sounds, and each pod has distinctive noises that its members will recognize even at a distance. They use echolocation to communicate and hunt, making sounds that travel underwater until they encounter objects, then bounce back, revealing their location, size, and shape.
Killer whales are protective of their young, and other adolescent females often assist the mother in caring for them. Mothers give birth every three to ten years, after a 17-month pregnancy.
Orcas are immediately recognizable by their distinctive black-and-white coloring and are the intelligent, trainable stars of many aquarium shows. Killer whales have never been extensively hunted by humans. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/killer-whale/
Earth's largest animal, the endangered blue whale can eat some 4 to 8 tons (3.6 to 7.3 metric tons) of krill per day.
Photograph by Flip Nicklin
Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. These magnificent marine mammals rule the oceans at up to 100 feet (30 meters) long and upwards of 200 tons (181 metric tons). Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant. Their hearts, as much as an automobile.
Blue whales reach these mind-boggling dimensions on a diet composed nearly exclusively of tiny shrimplike animals called krill. During certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) of krill a day.
Blue whales are baleen whales, which means they have fringed plates of fingernail-like material, called baleen, attached to their upper jaws. The giant animals feed by first gulping an enormous mouthful of water, expanding the pleated skin on their throat and belly to take it in. Then the whale's massive tongue forces the water out through the thin, overlapping baleen plates. Thousands of krill are left behind—and then swallowed.
Blue whales look true blue underwater, but on the surface their coloring is more a mottled blue-gray. Their underbellies take on a yellowish hue from the millions of microorganisms that take up residence in their skin. The blue whale has a broad, flat head and a long, tapered body that ends in wide, triangular flukes.
Blue whales live in all the world's oceans occasionally swimming in small groups but usually alone or in pairs. They often spend summers feeding in polar waters and undertake lengthy migrations towards the Equator as winter arrives.
These graceful swimmers cruise the ocean at more than five miles an hour (eight kilometers an hour), but accelerate to more than 20 miles an hour (32 kilometers an hour) when they are agitated. Blue whales are among the loudest animals on the planet. They emit a series of pulses, groans, and moans, and it’s thought that, in good conditions, blue whales can hear each other up to 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away. Scientists think they use these vocalizations not only to communicate, but, along with their excellent hearing, to sonar-navigate the lightless ocean depths.
Really Big Babies
Blue whale calves enter the world already ranking among the planet's largest creatures. After about a year inside its mother's womb, a baby blue whale emerges weighing up to 3 tons (2.7 metric tons) and stretching to 25 feet (8 meters). It gorges on nothing but mother's milk and gains about 200 pounds (91 kilograms) every day for its first year.
Blue whales are among Earth's longest-lived animals. Scientists have discovered that by counting the layers of a deceased whale's waxlike earplugs, they can get a close estimate of the animal's age. The oldest blue whale found using this method was determined to be around 110 years old. Average lifespan is estimated at around 80 to 90 years.
Between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales are believed to still swim the world's oceans. Aggressive hunting in the 1900s by whalers seeking whale oil drove them to the brink of extinction. Between 1900 and the mid-1960s, some 360,000 blue whales were slaughtered. They finally came under protection with the 1966 International Whaling Commission, but they've managed only a minor recovery since then.
Blue whales have few predators but are known to fall victim to attacks by sharks and killer whales, and many are injured or die each year from impacts with large ships. Blue whales are currently classified as endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List.http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/blue-whale/
Northern right whales, hunted to near extinction, are the rarest of all large whales. Experts estimate that only several hundred exist in the wild.
Photograph courtesy NOAA
Right whales are the rarest of all large whales. There are several species, but all are identified by enormous heads, which can measure up to one-third of their total body length. These whales' massive heads and jaws accommodate hundreds of baleen "teeth." Rights and other baleen-feeding whales use a comblike strainer of baleen plates and bristles to ensnare tiny morsels of food as they swim. Right whales feed on zooplankton and other tiny organisms using baleens up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) long.
Southern and the two species of northern right whales live in temperate Atlantic or Pacific waters, often near the coast.
Right whales were named by whalers who identified them as the "right" whale to kill on a hunt. These leviathans had enormous value for their plentiful oil and baleen, which were used for corsets, buggy whips, and other contrivances. Because of their thick blubber, right whales also float accommodatingly after they have been killed. Populations of these whales were decimated during the whaling heydays of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. During this period they came close to extinction.
Because females do not become sexually mature until ten years of age and give birth to a single calf after a yearlong pregnancy, populations grow slowly.
All species of right whales are endangered and have enjoyed complete international protection since 1949. Several thousand southern right whales are believed to survive, and they have shown some encouraging population growth since their protection. South Africa's population is believed to have grown from 100 to 1,000 animals since 1940.
Northern right whales are the most endangered of all large whales. They number only several hundred, and populations do not appear to have grown in the decades since their protection began http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/right-whale/
Sperm whales' heads are filled with a mysterious substance called spermaceti. Scientists have yet to understand its function, but believe it may help the animal regulate its buoyancy.
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry
Sperm whales are easily recognized by their massive heads and prominent rounded foreheads. They have the largest brain of any creature known to have lived on Earth. Their heads also hold large quantities of a substance called spermaceti. Whalers once believed that the oily fluid was sperm, but scientists still do not understand the function of spermaceti. One common theory is that the fluid—which hardens to wax when cold—helps the whale alter its buoyancy so it can dive deep and rise again. Sperm whales are known to dive as deep as 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) in search of squid to eat. These giant mammals must hold their breath for up to 90 minutes on such dives.
These toothed whales eat thousands of pounds of fish and squid—about one ton (907 kg) per day.
Sperm whales are often spotted in groups (called pods) of some 15 to 20 animals. Pods include females and their young, while males may roam solo or move from group to group. Females and calves remain in tropical or subtropical waters all year long, and apparently practice communal childcare. Males migrate to higher latitudes, alone or in groups, and head back towards the equator to breed. Driven by their tale fluke, approximately 16 feet (5 meters) from tip to tip, they can cruise the oceans at around 23 miles (37 kilometers) per hour.
These popular leviathans are vocal and emit a series of "clangs" that may be used for communication or for echolocation. Animals that use echolocation emit sounds that travel underwater until they encounter objects, then bounce back to their senders—revealing the location, size, and shape of their target.
Sperm whales were mainstays of whaling's 18th and 19th century heyday. A mythical albino sperm whale was immortalized in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, though Ahab's nemesis was apparently based on a real animal whalers called Mocha Dick. The animals were targeted for oil and ambergris, a substance that forms around squid beaks in a whale's stomach. Ambergris was (and remains) a very valuable substance once used in perfumes.
Despite large population drops due to whaling, sperm whales are still fairly numerous.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/sperm-whale/ Just Push Play>Hi Everybody! An Exciting Adventure Tonight!!!
As You can see from the wonderful photostudy above, by National Geographic, this post will focus our attention on Whales!
My good friend on Google+ +PedroO sent me the video below. He is a Professional Photographer who rode out to Sea and captured some Whales in their Home (with his camera). He created the slideshow and uploaded to You Tube. Thanks Pedro for sharing with Us!!!
Grupos de Ballenas observados durante el mes de Enero de 2012 en La Bahía de Banderas frente a las costas de Puerto Vallarta y de La Riviera Nayarit.
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LIVING IN THE OCEAN
 Whales are large, intelligent, aquatic mammals. They breathe air through blowhole(s) into lungs (unlike fish who breathe using gills). Whales have sleek, streamlined bodies that move easily through the water. They are the only mammals, other than manatees (seacows), that live their entire lives in the water, and the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans. |  Whales breathe air. They are NOT fish. They are mammals that spend their entire lives in the water. |
  Cetaceans are the group of mammals that includes the whales, dolphins, and porpoises. | Like all mammals:
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| The biggest whale is the blue whale, which grows to be about 94 feet (29 m) long - the height of a 9-story building. These enormous animals eat about 4 tons of tiny krill each day, obtained by filter feeding through baleen. Adult blue whales have no predators except man. The smallest whale is the dwarf sperm whale which as an adult is only 8.5 feet (2.6 m) long. |  The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever existed on Earth. It is larger than any of the dinosaurs were. They are also the loudest animalon Earth. |
TWO TYPES OF CETACEANS
Cetaceans include the whales, dolphins and porpoises. There are over 75 species of Cetaceans. Whales belong to the order Cetacea (from the Greek word "ketos" which means whale), which is divided into the following groups:
Toothed whales (Odontoceti) - predators that use their peg-like teeth to catch fish, squid, and marine mammals, swallowing them whole. They have one blowhole (nostril) and use echolocation to hunt. There are about 66 species of toothed whales. |  Baleen whales (Mysticeti) - predators that sieve tiny crustaceans, small fish, and other tiny organisms from the water with baleen. Baleen is a comb-like structure that filters the baleen whales' food from the water. Baleen whales are larger than the toothed whales and have 2 blowholes (nostrils). There are 10 species of baleen whales. |
SWIMMING AND OTHER WATER ACTIVITIES
| Whales have a streamlined shape and almost no hair as adults (it would cause drag while swimming). Killer whales and Shortfin Pilot whales are the fastest, swimming up to 30 miles per hour (48 kph). | Whales swim by moving their muscular tail (flukes) up and down. Fish swim by moving their tails left and right. |
Breaching: Many whales are very acrobatic, even breaching (jumping) high out of the water and then slapping the water as they come back down. Sometimes they twirl around while breaching. Breaching may be purely for play or may be used to loosen skin parasites or have some social meaning. 
Spyhopping: This is another cetacean activity in which the whale pokes its head out of the water and turns around, perhaps to take a look around. 
Lobtailing: Some whales stick their tail out of the water into the air, swing it around, and then slap it on the water's surface; this is called lobtailing. It makes a very loud sound. The meaning or purpose of lobtailing is unknown, but may be done as a warning to the rest of the pod of danger. 
Logging: Logging is when a whale lies still at the surface of the water, resting, with its tail hanging down. While floating motionless, part of the head, the dorsal fin or parts of the back are exposed at the surface. MIGRATION
| Many ceteaceans, especially baleen whales, migrate over very long distances each year. They travel, sometimes in groups (pods), from cold-water feeding grounds to warm-water breeding grounds. |  Gray whales make the longest seasonal migration of any of the whales. They travel about 12,500 miles each year. |
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Cetaceans have very strong social ties. The strongest social ties are between mother and calf. A social group of whales is called a pod. Baleen whales travel alone or in small pods. The toothed whales travel in large, sometimes stable pods. The toothed whales frequently hunt their prey in groups, migrate together, and share care of their young.
REPRODUCTION
 Young cetaceans are frequently mottled in color, camouflaging them from predators. Newborns have a sparse covering of hair which they lose as adults. |
WHALE SONGS
Complex whales songs can be heard for miles under the water. The humpback's song can last for 30 minutes. Baleen whales sing low-frequency songs; toothed whales emit whistles and clicks that they use for echolocation The songs are thought to be used in attracting mates, to keep track of offspring, and for the toothed whales, to locate prey.
CLASSIFICATION OF CETACEANS
Cetaceans are divided into the following suborders:
- Odontoceti (toothed whales) - killer whales or orcas
, narwhals
, sperm whales
- Mysticeti (mustached whales) or baleen whales - blue whales
, gray whales
and right whales. These large whales are filter feeders and are among the largest animals on earth. They have baleen plates instead of teeth, which are used to filter tiny organisms, like krill and small fish from the water. They use their tongue to dislodge the food from the baleen and swallow it. Baleen is made of keratin, the same protein that our hair and nails are made of.
- Archaeoceti - the extinct whales, which includes Basilosaurus, the earliest-known primitive Eocene whale.
PRIMITIVE WHALES AND EVOLUTION
Primitive whales evolved during the mid-Eocene period, about 50 million years ago. Fossil remains indicate that whales evolved from hoofed land mammals - perhaps the shore-dwelling, hyena-like Mesonychid that returned, bit by bit, to the sea roughly 50 million years ago.Another possible step in whale ancestry is the otter-like Ambulocetus, an extinct mammal the size of a sea lion, 10 feet (3 m) long and about 650 pounds. Its limbs allowed it to swim and could also support it on land. It had long, powerful jaws with shark-like teeth, a small brains, and a pelvis fused to its backbone (like land-dwelling mammals but unlike whales).
Basilosaurus, a very primitive, extinct whale, had a tiny head and pointed snout with teeth, unlike modern-day whales which have large heads and a blunter snout. It was about 82 feet (25 m) long.
ENDANGERED WHALES
There are many species of whales that are in danger of going extinct. Most baleen whales (the huge whales targeted by commercial whalers) are listed as endangered or protected species. Most other whale species are doing well and are not endangered.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/
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HELP
http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/
The Whales' Navy
In Defense of Whales Worldwide
In 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) enacted a moratorium on all commercial whaling. Since then, three nations - Iceland, Norway, and Japan - have brutally slaughtered over 25,000 whales under the guise of scientific research and for commercial purposes. The IWC does not have the capacity to enforce the moratorium. Sea Shepherd, guided by the United Nations World Charter for Nature, is the only organization whose mission is to enforce these international conservation regulations on the high seas.
Highlights from our past three decades include:
Ramming and disabling the notorious pirate whaler, the SierraShutting down half of the Spanish whaling fleetDocumentation of whaling activities in the Faeroe Islands chronicled
in the BBC documentary Black HarvestScuttling half of the Icelandic whaling fleet and whale processing stationScuttling of the Norwegian whaling vessels Nybraena and SenetConfronting and opposing Japan's illegal whaling in AntarcticaSea Shepherd has gone on to end the careers of 9 illegal whaling vessels, saving thousands of whales. These campaigns and other Sea Shepherd efforts have kept the issue of whaling in the international spotlight for the past thirty years.
Support Sea Shepherds unique efforts to safeguard whales around the world
Sea Shepherd's mission is to end the destruction of habitat and the slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately-balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations.
Feature Presentation:
(WARNING: Very Violent in some scenes)
Option: I have set up the following two vids for you to view at the same time. Push Play on top one, then push play on bottom one, so they run together (2nd one is shorter, so it will run out first)
Please Educate All Humans to Stop Killing Whales
The whales belong to all humans of earth, not just a few people. I am tired of them killing my personal share of ownership in the whales. I am tired of them making money murdering the whales. Is there ONE Lawyer on this planet who will sue these killers of endangered species on behalf of the Remaining Billions of Humans on Earth WHO BELIEVE THE WHALES SHOULD LIVE FREE???????
(The above paragraph is the reflected opinion of brendasue watson, only. If You know 'the Lawyer', please forward this post. Thanks. We should all care.)
.....this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek. See You next time. Love to All.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/humpback-whale/
The plaintive song of the humpback whale can travel for great distances underwater.
Photograph courtesy Dr. Louis M. Herman/NOAA
Of Course, One more great performance! Just Push Play>
Uploaded by luzziekamp on Jul 3, 2010
Here is some relaxing music! Let your eyes enjoy the pictures and your mind enjoy the music... ♥
I own nothing! All rights belong to Greenpeace: I have this music from a CD I got free at a museum, a long time ago... It's called: "World of the Whale". Here you will listen to 2 tracks from it.
I own nothing! All rights belong to Greenpeace: I have this music from a CD I got free at a museum, a long time ago... It's called: "World of the Whale". Here you will listen to 2 tracks from it.
It Is Your Lucky Night, 2 more Great Performances! Just Push Play>
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Another great log Brenda they are so graceful Majestic animals then to be slaughtered in the end.. was a bit much!! Thanks also to PedroO For helping with this Blog.. John From St.Louis Mo.
ReplyDeleteThanks John. I hope you will share this post with your friends!
ReplyDeleteDu machst Dir so viel Arbeit . Das Schreiben und all die Videos einstellen . Du bist wohl Tag und Nacht damit beschäftigt .
ReplyDeleteIch danke dir !!!!!!
Ach , nur eins, die blaue Schrift auf dem Schwarzen Hintergrund ist hier nicht so gut zu lesen.
ReplyDelete