Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Do Whales Have Belly Buttons? 10 Bizarre Whale Questions ...

Do whales have belly buttons?

They sure do! Whales, like humans, are mammals and give birth to live young. Baby whales grow inside their mother?s womb and receive oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical cord, which breaks during birth and leaves behind a belly button.

Do whales have hair?

Yes, they are mammals, and one of the characteristics common to all mammals is the presence of hair. Most are born with hair, but lose it as they age. Adult humpbacks, however, do have distinctive knobby bumps called tubercles that each contain a sensory hair.

Do whales poop?

Yes. The color and consistency of their poop depends on the species, but generally speaking, whale poop is a diarrhea-like substance that appears like a dispersed cloud or plume at the surface. Sounds a little gross and strange, but the poop is loaded with iron and nitrogen and is actually a vital component of the marine ecozystem.

Do whales have teeth?

Whales are broken into two categories: toothed whales and baleen whales. The toothed variety, which includes sperm, beaked and dolphins, can have over 100 teeth in their jaws. The baleen variety, such as humpback, blue and right, have baleen instead of teeth. Baleen is a strong, yet flexible material made out of keratin (the exact same protein that makes up our hair and fingernails) and is used to filter food from the water for ingestion.

Do whales fart?

Yup. Scientists observed a minke whale in passing gas off the coast of Antarctica, and as expected, it did not smell like roses.

Do whales eat people?

No. Despite the many stories in mythology and storybooks, there has never been a recorded incident of a whale eating a human.

Do whales yawn?

A full-blown mammalian yawn requires the ability to breathe through the mouth. Whales breathe through blowholes, so they do not have the ability to yawn.

Do whales have lungs?

Yes. They are mammals, and like all mammals, they breathe with lungs, not gills.

What do whales drink?

Whales can get water in one of two ways: they can either get water through their food, or produce it internally from the metabolic breakdown of food. To make this possible, whales have special kidneys that are designed to cope with strong saltwater concentrations.

Do whales have tongues?

Yes, and here?s a disturbing fact: a blue whale?s tongue can weigh as much as an elephant!

Want to know more about whales? Check out Great Pacific Adventures, a whale watching Victoria BC company that has been serving visitors to Vancouver Island since 1995.

Source: http://toddsblogs.com/referenceandeducation/2012/07/24/do-whales-have-belly-buttons-10-bizarre-whale-questions-answered/

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