Mammals: Whales

  • Marine mammals: fin-like front limbs and tail, vestigial back limbs. 
  • Homeothermic or warm-blooded organisms, like all other mammals. 
  • Suckle their young with their mammary glands
  • Whales come up for air to breathe: they have no gills, which means that they cannot breathe under water.
  • Baleen whales (such as the blue whale) eat plankton and small animals.
  • Toothed whales (such as sperm whales) are predators.
  • Large animals: blue whales can grow over 30 meters long!