Whale - description, species, where it lives, what it eats, names, photos. Cetaceans: general characteristics of the order of aquatic mammals

Many people are interested in what kit means on a camera and what is the difference between body and kit. Kit- This "set", that is, the camera is equipped with some kind of lens.

If you buy your first device with interchangeable optics, then you need a kit, unless you have decided on the choice of lens in advance. Sometimes you may hear the expression “whale lens”, this does not mean that only whales can be photographed with this lens. The kit lens is the one that came with the camera. Whale lenses There are different ones, but Nikon usually equips certain models of devices with certain lenses. You need to look on the box to see which lens is included in the kit.

Those who are just buying their first DSLR may hear the words kit (whale) and body (body). Kit translated from English is a set. This means that it refers to the lens that comes with the camera. But you can’t call any lens Whale. Every photographic equipment manufacturer has a range of universal lenses that are suitable for most shooting situations. This optics is not very expensive, but it is quite reliable and has good, although not top-end, characteristics. When buying your first DSLR, you definitely need to buy a kit lens to work at different focal lengths.

A whale lens is also called a kit lens. It has nothing in common with this huge mammal. This is just an adaptation for the Russian-speaking population. It is not uncommon for the same camera model to be sold complete with different lenses. The most common are 18-55mm and 28-105mm.

Body is a camera without a lens. It is also called a carcass. This camera option is suitable for those photographers who already have a number of lenses and a great desire to buy more new model cameras. Optics does not become obsolete for years, and sometimes even decades, but the regularity of new cameras being released is extremely high. Those who want to keep up with the times can simply buy new bodies every couple of years and use their fleet of lenses with them.

Blue whale, aka vomit or blue whale - the most large mammal that has ever existed on our planet. Despite its massive size, this giant feeds on almost the smallest marine life– tiny shrimp (krill). The length of a blue whale can reach 23-33 m, and its weight is 150 tons. Moreover, females are usually larger than males.

Is the blue whale a fish or an animal? The blue whale cannot be classified as a fish for several reasons: firstly, the absence of gills - the whale breathes with its lungs. Secondly, whales have a 4-chambered heart, not a 2-chambered one like fish. Thirdly, females feed their cubs with milk, that is, they are mammals. Finally, whales have no scales and are warm-blooded, unlike fish. These are just a few of the main reasons why we can classify blue whales as animals rather than fish.

Vomit is an animal of the baleen whale order. He has an elongated slender body and a large head, which makes up 27% of the total body length. The upper jaw of the blue whale is significantly narrower than the lower jaw. Vomiting is usually dark gray in color, sometimes with a blue tint. Large spots are often found on the body, mainly on the abdominal and posterior parts. If you look at a whale from above - through the water, it appears blue, which is why it got its name.

Blue whale dives for enough greater depth- up to 200 m, but if it is wounded or frightened, it can sink even deeper - up to 500 m. The duration of the dive is usually from 5 to 30 minutes, but if a whale is being pursued by whalers, then out of fear it can hide under water for almost an hour . After surfacing, the whale breathes rapidly for 2-10 minutes and dives again. Each time it emerges, it releases a fountain of steam up to 10 meters high.

The blue whale feeds mainly on plankton. To catch it, it opens its mouth and swims, slowly absorbing water with krill that it encounters along the way. Then, closing its mouth, the vomit with its tongue pushes out the water through the whalebone. At the same time, food settles on the whisker fringe and is then swallowed. The stomach of a blue whale can hold up to a ton of food. Vomits eat mainly in the summer, and after migrating for the winter to warm waters they eat almost nothing.

Some scientists believe that the brain of blue whales is most similar in its capabilities to the human brain when compared with other animals. Blue whales also have a good memory: they can remember where they were born and raised, and recognize their parents even after many years.

These animals have poor eyesight and sense of smell. But they have well-developed hearing and sense of touch. Blue whales exchange sound signals with their relatives at a distance of up to 33 km.

Vomit is a solitary animal. Occasionally, individuals unite in small flocks, but even there they swim separately. However, these animals are believed to be monogamous and form very close and long-lasting bonds.

Representatives of the class of mammals - whales - are marine animals that amaze with their impressive size. IN Greek the meaning of the word kitoc is “ sea ​​monster", from which the name of this mammal comes from. At a time when fishermen had just begun to notice such a large creature as a whale, there were frequent disputes about whether it was a fish or an animal. Surprisingly, the ancestors of all cetaceans are artiodactyl land animals. Although the whale looks like a fish in appearance, one of its modern ancestors is a hippopotamus. Despite all these facts, debate continues about what whales are - fish or mammals.

Whale - description and characteristics

The size of whales exceeds the dimensions of any mammal: the body length of a blue whale reaches twenty-five to thirty-three meters, its weight is more than one hundred and fifty tons. But there are also smaller, dwarf whales. Their weight does not exceed four tons, and their body length is six meters.

All cetaceans have a body shaped like an elongated drop, which allows them to glide easily in the water column. Big head with a narrow and blunt rostrum allows the whale to cut through the water when swimming. The nostrils are shifted closer to the crown, and the eyes are small relative to the body. Different individuals have differences in the structure of their teeth. Toothed whales have sharp cone-shaped teeth, and baleen whales, instead of the usual teeth, filter water and thus obtain food using bone plates (or whalebone).

The whale's skeleton provides special plasticity and the ability to perform maneuvers due to the spongy structure and elasticity of the intervertebral discs. The head goes into the body without a neck interception; towards the tail the body becomes narrower. The mammal turns and slows down with the help of flippers, which have been transformed from pectoral fins. The motor function is performed by the tail, which is distinguished by its flat shape, extreme flexibility and developed muscles. At the end of the tail section there are horizontally arranged blades. Many whales use their tail to stabilize their movements underwater.

Hairs and bristles grow only on the faces of baleen whales; the body is covered with absolutely smooth and hairless skin. The color of the animal's skin can be monochromatic, anti-shadow - dark top and light bottom, or spotted. As whales age, they can change the color of their skin. Cetaceans lack olfactory receptors and also have poorly developed taste receptors. The whale can only distinguish the taste of salty foods, while other mammals have a full range of taste buds. Poor eyesight and frequent myopia are fully compensated by the conjunctival glands. Mammalian hearing distinguishes sounds ranging from muffled noises to ultrasonic frequencies, due to the complex anatomical structure inner ear. Under the skin is a large number of nerves, which provides the animal with an excellent sense of touch.

Whales communicate with each other using echolocation. The absence of vocal cords did not prevent the whale from communicating with other individuals by producing sounds. The role of a reflector and a sound lens is performed by a layer of fat in the concave bones of the skull. Whales have slow, smooth movements, but sometimes their speed can reach forty kilometers per hour.

The whale's body temperature does not depend on environment, these are warm-blooded animals. A thick layer of fat protects cetaceans from hypothermia. Huge lungs with well-developed muscles allow animals to spend under water from ten minutes to an hour and a half. Swimming to the surface of the ocean, the whale releases air whose temperature is much higher than the surrounding air. That is why, when exhaling, a fountain appears - a sheaf of condensate, and along with it, due to the high power, a trumpet roar breaks out in some large animals.

Lifespan. How long do whales live?

The question of how long whales live can be answered differently depending on their species. Small animals live up to thirty years, the lifespan of large whales does not exceed fifty years.

The habitat of whales is the world's oceans. Mammals are scattered across all latitudes, but in cold times the majority migrate to warm waters and live near the coast. These are herd animals that prefer to live in groups with several dozen or hundreds of individuals. Whales migrate depending on the season. In winter and during the birthing period, whales and their females swim to warm waters, and in summer they are in waters of temperate or high latitudes.

A whale's diet depends on its species. Plankton is preferred by planktivores; mollusks act as food for teutophages. Ichthyophages, decomposed, feed on live fish organic matter consumed by detritivores. Killer whales are the only representatives of cetaceans that hunt not only fish, but also pinnipeds such as seals, penguins and sea ​​lions. Dolphins and their offspring can also become victims of killer whales.

Types of whales

The largest representative of the mammal family is the blue whale. One hundred and fifty tons of weight and a length of thirty meters give the blue whale the right to be considered the largest animal on the planet. The narrow head and slender body allow the mammal to move smoothly under water, cutting through its thickness. The skin has the appearance of marble stone thanks to the gray spots scattered throughout the blue body of the whale. The blue whale lives in every ocean and feeds mainly on plankton and small fish. Blue whales prefer to live and move alone. The size of the blue whale attracts poachers and scientists to it.

The blue whale dives into deep water in moments of fear or injury. Whalers used harpoons to measure maximum depth the depth to which the animal descends is five hundred and forty meters, although during a normal dive the whale does not descend into water deeper than one hundred meters. After a deep dive, the mammal makes a series of surfacings in order to inhale air. The length of the blue whale makes it dive and emerge rather slowly. The animal spends three quarters of its life under water. The blue whale reproduces more slowly than other cetaceans: calves are born no more than once every two years. During one birth, only one baby is born, and the pregnancy period itself is very protracted.

The animals were practically exterminated in the last century, so now scientists are trying to increase their numbers. Today, the number of blue whales across the planet does not exceed ten thousand individuals. Poachers destroy blue whales because of the value of their baleen. It has a rich pitch black color and triangular shape. The fringe located on the baleen plates allows the whale to feed on large crustaceans and small plankton.

The songs of an animal like the blue whale are considered very depressing. The blue whale lives about eighty to ninety years, the maximum recorded age of the animal is one hundred and ten years.

Because of the convex hump-shaped fin on the back, one of the whale representatives was called humpback. The animal has a short body - at least fourteen meters, while its mass is about thirty tons. The humpback whale differs from other species in the form of a variety of skin colors and the presence of several rows of warty, leathery growths on the top of the head. The body color of the mammal can vary from brown to dark gray and black, the chest and belly are covered with white spots. Top part The fins can be completely black or covered with light spots, the bottom is completely white. The animal has long pectoral fins, the mass of which makes up a third of the whale's total weight. Humpback whales have individual growths as well as coloration.

This mammal lives in the waters of all oceans, excluding the areas of Antarctica and the Arctic. Migration of the humpback whale can be either localized or seasonal, depending on the availability of food or ocean water temperature. Animals do not choose specific areas to live, but prefer to be near the shore, in shallow water. During the migration period, whales enter deep waters, but usually stay near the shores. At this time, mammals hardly eat, feeding on reserves subcutaneous fat. Crustaceans, molluscs and small fish constitute the diet of the humpback whale during the warm season. Groups of these animals quickly disintegrate. Only mothers and cubs can swim and hunt together for long periods of time.

The humpback whale is known for the sounds it makes. During the breeding season, males make long-lasting sounds, reminiscent of melodic songs, attracting females. Scientists who became interested in these sounds, through research, were able to determine that the songs of the humpback whale, like human speech, consist of individual words that form sentences.

The pygmy whale is considered the smallest species of cetacean. Its mass does not reach three tons, and its body length does not exceed six meters. This is the only whale that moves in waves. The dwarf whale has a streamlined body with a gray or black color with gray spots. The animal’s head is completely free of any growths, the pectoral fins are very short, have a rounded shape, and the sickle-shaped dorsal fin does not exceed twenty-five centimeters in height. Unlike the blue whale, the pygmy whale has a baleen white with a yellowish tint.

Scientists provide little information about the lifestyle of this animal, as it is rare. The dwarf whale does not jump out of the water and does not raise its tail fin above its surface. The fountains that he releases when exhaling are not striking in their size and are not accompanied by a hum. You can distinguish a mammal by its light gums and white spot on the jaw. The dwarf whale swims rather slowly, bending its body in waves.

The mammal leads a solitary lifestyle, but sometimes it can be seen in groups of sei whales or minke whales.

These whales are rarely found in the open ocean; they often swim in shallow bays. During the warm season, young pygmy whales move to coastal waters. Animals do not migrate long distances. Plankton, crustaceans, and invertebrate marine animals serve as food for dwarf whales. This is the rarest and smallest species of cetacean.

One of the representatives cetacean mammals is a beluga whale. The name of the animal comes from its color. Beluga whale calves are born with dark blue skin, which then changes to light gray, and adults are pure white. The animal is distinguished by a small head with a high forehead. The beluga whale can turn its head because its cervical vertebrae are not fused. Most whales do not have this ability. The animal has no dorsal fin, but small pectoral fins oval shape. Because of these features, the name of the mammal is translated from Latin as “wingless dolphin.” Thirty to forty years is how long these whales live.

These whales live in Arctic latitudes, but migrate seasonally. Beluga whales spend summer and spring off the coast, in areas for molting and feeding. During the molting season, whales rub in shallow water against sea pebbles, thus trying to shed their old skin. Every year the beluga whale visits the same places, remembering the place of its birth, where it returns after wintering. In winter, whales live in glaciated zones, breaking through thin ice with their powerful backs. But at moments when ice holes are covered with a thick layer of ice, beluga whales can become captured by ice. The danger comes from polar bears and killer whales, for which beluga whales can become food. Whale migration takes place in two groups: one contains several females with calves, and the second contains adult males. Communication between individuals is carried out using sound signals and clapping of fins in the water. During the study of beluga whales, more than fifty types of sounds that it makes were counted.

Mating of whales takes place on the coast, several times a year. Males can organize tournament fights for a female. During birth, one baby whale appears, which the female feeds for one and a half to two years.

One of the brightest cetaceans is the sperm whale. Unlike other whales, sperm whales prefer a gregarious lifestyle, moving and hunting in groups of hundreds of individuals. Their speed does not allow sperm whales to move quickly through the water column. The sperm whale is known for its ability to dive deep underwater and stay at depth long time. The large content of fat and fluids in the sperm whale's body provides it with protection from water pressure. The mammal stores its air supply in the air sac and muscles containing a large amount of myoglobin. In rare cases, the animal has caused accidents with deep-sea cables. The sperm whale got entangled in the cable with its tail and lower jaw and choked, this was discovered already during the repair of the cable. A sperm whale was recovered off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula after it became entangled in a cable located at a depth of more than two thousand meters. At the same time, the whale uses echolocation, emitting ultrasound, which not only allows it to communicate with other sperm whales, but also to scare away dangerous animals. High-frequency signals block the movements of other ocean inhabitants, which makes it easier for the sperm whale to hunt them.

This mammal has been exterminated for several centuries, which is why its numbers have sharply declined. In conditions of polluted ocean waters and continued fishing, sperm whales are very slowly restoring their population. When wounded and attacked, the animal shows great aggression, so hunting it involves great risk. A wounded sperm whale is capable of sinking a whaling ship along with its entire crew. What does a whale eat? It eats small crustaceans, mollusks, squid, octopuses, and small sharks. To grind food, the sperm whale swallows small stones. This whale is the only mammal, in whose mouth a person can completely fit. During whaling ship accidents, sperm whales swallowed whalers.

Many researchers are still arguing about whether the killer whale is a whale or a dolphin. Despite the fact that the killer whale is called a killer whale in the media mass media and in Everyday life whalers, this animal belongs to the dolphins. This animal is confused with a whale because of the shape of the fin: dolphins have sharp, long fins, while killer whales have rounded and wide fins.

Mating and reproduction of whales

The whale is a monogamous animal that reproduces once every two years. The mammal fully matures by the age of twelve, but it becomes able to reproduce by the age of four. Males mate throughout the whole year, so the mating season is very long. Pregnancy depends on the species of cetacean and can take from seven to fifteen months. To give birth, females migrate to warm waters.

As a result of the birth, one whale appears, which emerges from the female with its tail first. The born baby immediately has the opportunity to move and develop independently, but it stays near its mother for some time. The baby whale is fed underwater, because whale milk has a high density and high fat content, as a result of which it does not spread in water. After finishing feeding, the cub almost doubles in size. The mother and the baby whale are accompanied by the male during the entire feeding period.

• man hunted whales for whalebone, fat and bones. Margarine, glycerin and soap were made from fat and lard. Whalebone and bones were used for the production of corsets, figurines, jewelry, and dishes;
• in the production of decorative cosmetics, spermaceti, which is found in the head of a whale, is actively used;
• many species of whales are listed in the Red Book, as they were practically exterminated by whalers;
• more than a dozen blue whale skeletons can be seen in various natural museums around the world;
• The trainable whale is the beluga whale. It can be seen in circuses and dolphinariums. Researchers of the ocean floor trained beluga whales to search for objects lost at the bottom, deliver equipment to divers, and conduct underwater photography;
• A large amount of literature has been written about different representatives of whales, while mammals act both as assistants to humans and as dangerous predators;
• The names of whales, such as beluga whale or sperm whale, are used to name some types of sea or land cargo transport.

So I’ll start with a simple but very important question.

Why is a whale not a fish?

We will come to the clearing -
Straight to the ocean-sea;
lies across it
Miracle Yudo Fish-Whale…
(P. Ershov “The Little Humpbacked Horse”)

It must be said that already in ancient times there were intelligent people who did not consider fish to be fish and placed them in the company of animals. The first to record this wise thought was the ancient Greek sage. In his History of Animals he wrote:

“All animals that have a blowhole breathe by inhaling air, for they have lungs. As for dolphins, people saw a dolphin sleeping, holding its snout above the water and snoring...
... some animals lay eggs, and others give birth to live young, as, for example, man and all animals that have hairline, and among marine animals - cetaceans, such as dolphins."

Let's expand on these two arguments a little (with all due respect to Aristotle, he lived a very long time ago).

So, unlike fish, cetacean cubs are not born from eggs, but develop inside the mother’s body, are born alive and - most importantly - are fed with milk.

Cetaceans also breathe not with the help of gills, which absorb oxygen directly from the water, but with the help of their lungs. Therefore, no matter how long he can stay under water, he has to regularly rise to the surface to breathe. atmospheric air. It is not without reason that, for greater convenience, the nostrils of cetaceans (they are called blowholes) moved from the end of the muzzle directly to the top of the head, and when diving they began to close tightly with valves so that the animal did not choke.

Why do whales blow fountains?

Of course, the whale not only inhales, but also exhales. It is as a result of exhalation that the famous “fountains” appear.

This name is not entirely correct, because what the whale exhales is not water as such, but warm air(like us), which also contains a certain amount of water. Remember how water vapor escapes from our mouths in winter. Usually we don’t see it, but in the cold the water condenses (gathers into droplets) and becomes visible. It is not for nothing that whale “fountains” are usually seen in cold areas of the world’s oceans.

Of course, when exhaling, the blowhole can also capture surrounding water, but this is just a side accident. Cetaceans cannot choke, because their digestive and respiratory channels are completely isolated. Maybe something else...

A. Tomilin “In the world of whales and dolphins”:
“In 1946, we found that if water is poured into the respiratory tract of dolphins, they throw it out in the form of cleansing fountains, while they do not experience any coughing and the entry of liquid into their upper respiratory tract is completely safe for them. Some dolphins themselves actively take water into the nasal canal and release it like a fountain. This is what they do at sea, and this is what they are trained to do in captivity.”

Since the blowhole can consist not only of two, but also of one nostril, the whale “fountain” can be double or single. Experienced whalers could already distinguish from afar by the shape of the “fountain”, the height and direction of its jets different types whales

A. Bram “Animal Life”:
“If an explosive bullet or spear reaches the lungs, then the whale blows blood through its nostrils or “throws out a red flag,” as the whalers say.”

How else do cetaceans differ from fish?

Mammal feeding and pulmonary breathing are the most obvious, but not all the features that distinguish whales and dolphins from fish.

For example, these animals are warm-blooded - that is, their body (like all birds) works like an autonomous “boiler room” that maintains a constant body temperature. Thanks to this, whales calmly migrate across the world's oceans - from tropical to polar latitudes.

Although the forelimbs of cetaceans have turned into flippers, these are not fish fins at all. If we X-ray the flipper, we will find the familiar five-fingered limb (with phalanges, wrist, etc.).

The cetaceans also have several pelvic bones left. Although they are separated from the rest of the skeleton and are greatly degraded, they cannot be fully called rudiments (i.e. completely useless features). The muscles of the genital organs (both females and males) are attached to these remains of the pelvis.
Photo: Sergey Kuriy, personal archive

In addition to the front ones, cetaceans have other fins - a powerful caudal one (with which they move), and in some species, a dorsal one (for greater stability). Unlike the same fish (as well as ancient fish-like reptiles - ichthyosaurs), the caudal fin is not vertical, but horizontal. If fish swim, bending their body from side to side, then cetaceans wave their tail from top to bottom. To exaggerate, we can say that their spine curves like a wave (like a galloping horse or a running cheetah).


Photo: Thesupermat, wikipedia.org

To answer this question, children can give clear example. It is no secret that people of the same profession can be similar to each other without being relatives. This is especially noticeable in sports - look at the pumped up legs of football players, the wide backs of swimmers and the flattened bridges of the nose of boxers.

Something similar happens in animals that live in a similar environment and, adapting to it, gain similar signs(such a convergence of characteristics in biology is called convergence). Because of this, some people still wonder why kangaroos are more close relative koala than bear?

Photo: Terry Howard, wikipedia.org

Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Aristotle’s opinion about cetaceans did not take root in the public consciousness for almost two decades. For example, on medieval coats of arms, a dolphin was often depicted with fish scales (such artists, apparently, only heard about the dolphin, but never saw it). The idea of ​​a whale as a fish turned out to be especially “convenient” for Christians - after all, whale meat could be eaten quite legally during fasting days. Only in the 18th century, thanks to the authority of Carl Linnaeus, who compiled the first scientific taxonomy, were cetaceans unconditionally classified as mammals.

Priests today are unlikely to argue with this. That does not prevent them from persistently attacking the evolutionary theory (for some reason, the emergence of species from nothing - at the snap of the Divine finger - is considered more logical than the gradual transformation of one species into another). For those for whom the authority of science (the fruits of which constantly surround us) is undoubted, I propose to briefly touch upon the following question.

How did the ancestors of cetaceans return to the water?

Briefly - because the completeness of the species family tree directly depends not only on genetic research, but also on the number of fossil finds. One thing is certain: all aquatic mammals descended from land mammals. When most of the dominant reptiles in the Mesozoic died out, vast natural niches became vacant, which birds and mammals immediately began to occupy.

Even in the early Eocene (about 50 million years ago), mesonychians lived on Earth - bizarre animals that combined the features of predators and ungulates. Based on the study of the Mesonychia skull, scientists today consider these creatures to be the probable ancestors of cetaceans.

Of course, early cetaceans were not very similar to modern ones. For example, a three-meter ambulocetus had a crocodile snout and hind limbs - however, the latter were more suitable for swimming than for walking.

Photo: Roman Uchytel, wikipedia.org

Another, later whale, Basilosaurus, was initially generally mistaken for a reptile (hence the prefix “saurus” - “lizard”). Subsequently, Richard Owen gave it a more suitable name - Zeuglodon cetoides ("cetacean yoke"), which began to be used on a par with the first.

Basilosaurus, or Zeuglodon, lived 35 million years ago and was already a completely aquatic (and even large) 18-meter animal. His hind limbs have already begun to deteriorate, and pelvic bones lost connection with the spine.

Photo: Zdenek Burian, book by Z. Spinar “The History of Life on Earth”, ed. Prague: Artia, 1977

By the way, of the modern cetaceans, the family of gray whales has retained the most ancient features. Their cervical region quite long, and its vertebrae are separated, due to which the head remains mobile. There are a couple of hundred hairs on the face of a gray whale. He does not like the open ocean, preferring to swim in a five-kilometer coastal zone, and breed in shallow water.

Photo: Dr. Steven Swartz, wikipedia.org