Whales+-+Elaine

__Whales of Antarctica__  //There is 11 species of Baleen whales and 76 of Toothed whales only eight live in the Antarctic ocean! The only two things they have in common is their crustaceans (a group of marine animals), and their name suggest what type of teeth they have. In the world there is more Toothed whales than Baleen whales but in Antarctica there are more Baleen whales than Toothed whales. The six Baleen whales are the Blue, Fin, Humpback, Minke, Sei and the Southern Right whales. There are two Toothed whales in Antarctica these two are the Orca and the Sperm whales but the Sperm whale cannot grow as big as the other Toothed whales. Lots of whales have different life spans, scientist once thought that it was incredible to find a whale 100 years old but that was when they realized that some whales can even have a lifespan of 200 years of age!//

media type="youtube" key="yMxY4c5SeIs" height="448" width="799"
//A video of whales hunting krill//

__Description__ // The whale is a very fascinating mammal there are split up into two different groups of whales the Toothed whales and the Baleen whales. Toothed whales have only one blow hole each and is known to be smaller than Baleen whales while the other hand Baleen whales have two blow holes each and have baleen as teeth, baleen are what finger nails are made of its called keratin and are known to be one of the largest mammals. Blow holes are what whales use to breath they are positioned at the top of their body, they rise up to the top of the ocean and use it to breath, whales are mammals but unlike humans whales can't breathe through their mouths instead they breathe through their blow hole (some whales can even eat while breathing), they still can only hold their breath for a certain time. Female whales seen to be bigger than male whales, the largest female whale recorded was unfortunately killed in Antarctica but 106 feet long or 32.3088 meters and weighed 400,000 pounds or 181,346.948kg and the largest male whale was also killed in Antarctica in the 20s and was 104 feet or also 31.6992 meters long. Whales communicate by making a sound called echo location system ([|Hear] a Blue whale ). // //The longest humpback whale seen//

__Habitat__
// Whales live in the water for all of their life, they even breed in water. In summer some whales go to Antarctica to find food while other species whales go to other places to find food, in winter they go to hotter places to breed because the baby whales need their skin to grow thick so their skin can protect them from any freezing cold water (for an example the Antarctic water). Baby whales feed on their mum's milk so their skin can grow faster (that is why whales breed in hot places), if the baby whale's skin is not thick or strong enough the baby whale cannot survive for long in cold water. // media type="youtube" key="_JWbua7wYXw" height="532" width="714" //Video of Orcas in Antarctica//

__Diet__ //Whales eat lots of food, Baleen whales ' filter ' their food with their baleen teeth, ( the food is mostly krill) for example Blue whales can eat 40 tonnes of krill a day on the feeding seasons (in the start of summer) and Toothed whales love to eat fish and other sea animals ( they like salmon the best) with their peg-like teeth and swallow their food up whole, so when summer comes they go to Antarctica to catch their food. In winter they go to hotter places to breed (A krill is a shrimp-like creature that baleen whales love to eat). Or though Baleen whales are bigger they still eat smaller sea animals and Baleen whales even eat less than Toothed whales.// media type="youtube" key="1_BqC9IIuKU" height="437" width="784" //Whales hunting for food//

__Predator__ // The whales are wonderful mammals but some are endanger (for example the blue whales), whales are strong but humans are still their number 1 predator, humans called the sport whaling. The early reason humans came to Antarctica was because of killing whales all of the whales were endanger (example the blue whales had only one percent of their original numbers survived!). Whaling was introduced to the world in 6,000 BC, it started in Japan and now Japan is one of the countries who kills the most whales! People started whaling for the whales skin to make bags and to make light fuel, that was when humans realized that whales meat could be eaten as well as sold for money, at that time whaling became really famous. In the 1900's the advance whaling technology was invented and people managed to kill 40,000 whales a year! Lot of people loved whaling until a group of brave people stepped up for the whale species they were called the anti-whaling comity, they have succeeded to protect the Antarctic waters but some people ignore the warning and keep on killing whales. Even though the anti-whaling comity is doing their best to save the whale species the sport still continues on going. // media type="youtube" key="jpHlhibuRzc" height="501" width="672" //A video of cruel whaling//

__Blue whales__ // The Blue is named after it's blue-grey colour. All Blue whales are the largest kind of Baleen whale and even the world, they can grow even bigger than a dinosaur! The Blue whales can grow 100 feet long and can weigh 120 tonnes. Blue whales are the loudest animal ever. [|Hear] a Blue whale, the sound might sound like a boat but it is actually a Blue whale. The Blue whales are endanger because of humans killing them (or whaling for short) but now the number of Blue whales are recovering but humans are still killing them in at great speed! The lifespan for a Blue whale is 80 years of age but some Blue whales are not so fortunate and die earlier then other Blue whales, and it is usually because of whaling. Blue whales are as big as a elephant when its born (it's because Blue whales are so big). In the north side Blue whales are known to be smaller than the Blue whales on the south but either way Blue whales are still the biggest animal in the world. // media type="youtube" key="1fzT6ifrhL8" height="439" width="784" //A video that shows info on Blue whales//

__Minke whales__ // Minke whales are the smallest type of Baleen whale, they can grow 23-33 foot or 7.0104 meter-10.0584 long and weigh an average weight of 5-15 tons, on the other hand baby Minke whales (or new born ones) are 2.4384-2.7432 meters long and weigh an average of 349.2661249 kg (or just 349 kg). The Minke whale has an average lifespan of 40-50 years but some Minke whales can live for much longer if their lucky enough (example 100-200 years of age). Whales usually gets along but sometimes some don't, Minke whales sometimes get attacked by Killer whales, Killer whales are much more bigger than Minke whales so they usually get hurt and only a little percent of Minke whales can escape from the Killer whales other die from the Killer whales attack! // media type="youtube" key="rIo-0Y71jVA" height="470" width="700" //Minke whales near humans// __Orca whales (Killer whale)__ // The Orca whale are the biggest member of the dolphin family, they are also apart of Toothed whales, they are very well known to be a member of the whale species but they some people (scientist, etc) who study crustaceans will definitely know that they are really dolphins that they look a lot like whales. Orca's average length is 18-32 feet long (also 5.4864-9.7536 meters long) and new born Orcas are 7-8 feet (also 2.1336-2.4384 meters) and weigh an average weight of 2.6-9 tonnes (new born babies are 179 kg). Orcas spend their lives in a group, it is called a pod, they work together to trap their pray together they are very strong (they sometimes eat penguins)! The Orcas are held in captivity a lot, human believe that they are easy to train just so humans can see tricks! The Orca whale is also known as the Killer whale, they are very brave and will even attack a Blue whale but even though they attack their own species they are harmless to humans and will not attack. // media type="youtube" key="u0px-NYOS4o" height="438" width="784" //Study of Killer whales (Orcas)//


 * ===URLs=== || ===Description=== ||
 * [] || Whales in Antarctica and info on whales ||
 * [] || About all whales ||
 * [] || About the whale species ||
 * [] || About baleen whales ||
 * [] || About Minke whales ||
 * [] || About whale migration ||
 * [] || About whales, penguins and seals in Antarctica ||
 * [] || Brief info on animals of Antarctica ||
 * [] || predator of the blue whales and other whales ||
 * [] || All about whales ||
 * [] || Animals of Antarctica ||
 * [] || Whales fun facts ||
 * [] || Facts about whales for kids ||
 * [] || Plants and animals of Antarctica ||
 * [] || All on whales ||
 * [] || Every animal and living thing in Antarctica ||
 * [] || About whales ||
 * [] || About the lifespan of every whale ||
 * [] || Antarctica's wildlife ||
 * [] || Cetaceans (including whales) ||
 * [] || NO WHALING ||
 * [] || Whale species ||
 * [] || The history of whaling ||
 * [] || Facts on blue whales ||
 * [] || About all the whales ||
 * [] || Information on all the whales species in the world ||
 * [] || General information on whales ||