Whale

"Whale (origin Old English hƿæl) is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea.[2] The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises[3], which belong to suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales). This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga whale. The other Cetacean suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales), are filter feeders that eat small organisms caught by straining seawater through a comblike structure found in the mouth called baleen. This suborder includes the blue whale, the humpback whale, the bowhead whale and the minke whale. All Cetacea have forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with horizontal flukes, and nasal openings (blowholes) on top of the head."

"Whales range in size from the blue whale, the largest animal known to have ever existed[4] at 35 m (115 ft) and 150 tonnes (150 LT; 170 ST), to various pygmy species, such as the pygmy sperm whale at 3.5 m (11 ft)."

"Whales collectively inhabit all the world's oceans and number in the millions, with annual population growth rate estimates for various species ranging from 3-13%.[5] For centuries, whales have been hunted for meat and as a source of raw materials. By the middle of the 20th century, however, industrial whaling had left many species seriously endangered, leading to the end of whaling in all but a few countries."

References:

1. ^ Mead, James G.; Brownell, Robert L., Jr. (16 November 2005). "Order Cetacea (pp. 723-743)". in Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0.
2. ^ Brown, Lesley, ed (2007). Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. II (Sixth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University press. pp. 3611.
3. ^ http://www.acsonline.org/education/taxonomy.html
4. ^ "What is the biggest animal ever to exist on Earth?". How Stuff Works. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
5. ^ "Whale Population Estimates". International Whaling Commission. March 2010. Retrieved March 2010.

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