Baleen Whale
AN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF HAWAII
DESCRIPTION
- An under-water mammal
- Has baleen plates on both sides of mouth
- Baleen plates made of karatin
- Females larger by up to 5%
- make deep, low sounds to communicate various things to other whales such as their own personal call
- Not rough and no hair
- No ears can be seen but their hearing is great
- 24-27 meters
- 100-120 tons
(M.M.) (Nat. Geo.)
FOOD CHAIN
- Eats mainly krill
- Feeds on surface and in the depths of the ocean
- Never had any predators, only predators themselves---until humans came along
- Carnivore
- (ARK)
HABITAT
- Range from: North Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific Ocean
- They like to stay near the ice
- Breed in warm water
- Mainly stay in open ocean
- (Nat Geo) (ARK)
ADAPTATION
- Large and Fast
- Originally were able to escape from whalers, until new weapons for hunting them were invented
- Have large baleen plates for most efficentally being able to intake the largest amount of krill with one large gulp of water and fitering out the water
- Usually hunt in groups of 2-3
- Although, when there is a abundance of food, there can be up to 60 in a group
- (ARK)
CRITICAL INFORMATION
- Used to be able to escape whalers until new deck-mounted harpoon cannons were invented
- Has been illegal to kill for 47 years but not in Iceland, Norway, or the Russian Federation
- Although illegal whaling has been recorded as soon as 1978, 12 years after
- Recovery has been slow, although recently there have been some promising results
- There is currently only about 11% of the pre-commercial whaling population left
- (R.L.) (ARK)
pic 1: Lovet, Teddy Flickr
pic 2: Beebe, Sam Flickr
pic 3: Wonderlane Flickr
pic 4: Dawes, Michael Flickr
pic 5: Kristiansen, Jan Flickr
pic 2: Beebe, Sam Flickr
pic 3: Wonderlane Flickr
pic 4: Dawes, Michael Flickr
pic 5: Kristiansen, Jan Flickr