Whales

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/blue-whales/
http://www.saveourseas.com/minisites/kids/49.0.html
Whales are large, intelligent, aquatic mammals. They breathe air through blowhole(s) into lungs (unlike fish who breathe using gills). Whales have sleek, streamlined bodies that move easily through the water. They are the only mammals, other than manatees (seacows), that live their entire lives in the water, and the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans.

Whales breathe air. They are NOT fish. They are mammals that spend their entire lives in the water.

Cetaceans are the group of mammals that includes the whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Like all mammals:

* Whales breathe air into lungs,
* Whales have hair (although they have a lot less than land mammals, and have almost none as adults),
* Whales are warm-blooded (they maintain a high body temperature),
* Whales have mammary glands with which they nourish their young,
* Whales have a four-chambered heart. SWIMMING AND OTHER WATER ACTIVITIES
Whales have a streamlined shape and almost no hair as adults (it would cause drag while swimming). Killer whales and Shortfin Pilot whales are the fastest, swimming up to 30 miles per hour (48 kph).
Whales swim by moving their muscular tail (flukes) up and down. Fish swim by moving their tails left and right.

Breaching: Many whales are very acrobatic, even breaching (jumping) high out of the water and then slapping the water as they come back down. Sometimes they twirl around while breaching. Breaching may be purely for play or may be used to loosen skin parasites or have some social meaning.

Spyhopping: This is another cetacean activity in which the whale pokes its head out of the water and turns around, perhaps to take a look around.

Lobtailing: Some whales stick their tail out of the water into the air, swing it around, and then slap it on the water’s surface; this is called lobtailing. It makes a very loud sound. The meaning or purpose of lobtailing is unknown, but may be done as a warning to the rest of the pod of danger.

LoggingLogging: Logging is when a whale lies still at the surface of the water, resting, with its tail hanging down. While floating motionless, part of the head, the dorsal fin or parts of the back are exposed at the surface.

MIGRATION
Many ceteaceans, especially baleen whales, migrate over very long distances each year. They travel, sometimes in groups (pods), from cold-water feeding grounds to warm-water breeding grounds.
Gray whales make the longest seasonal migration of any of the whales. They travel about 12,500 miles each year.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Cetaceans have very strong social ties. The strongest social ties are between mother and calf. A social group of whales is called a pod. Baleen whales travel alone or in small pods. The toothed whales travel in large, sometimes stable pods. The toothed whales frequently hunt their prey in groups, migrate together, and share care of their young.

REPRODUCTION

Young cetaceans are frequently mottled in color, camouflaging them from predators. Newborns have a sparse covering of hair which they lose as adults.
Cetaceans give birth to live young which are nourished with milk from their mothers – they don’t lay eggs. Cetaceans breed seasonally, usually in warm tropical waters, and females usually have one calf every 1-3 years. The gestation times range from 9-18 months. Whale calves can swim at or soon after birth. Mother whales care for their young for an extended period of time, usually at least a year, feeding them milk and protecting them.