Fun Trivia » Animals » Wild Mammals » Cetaceans and Sirenians

The long tusk is most commonly found on males; some have two (this is not common) and some don't have one at all. The tusk is actually a canine tooth. It can grow up to ten feet (three meters) long and has millions of nerve endings inside. There are lots of theories about what it is actually used for. Some of these theories include as a weapon, as a tool to break through ice, as an acoustic organ and as a sexual trait (a way to distinguish who among other males is higher up in the hierarchy based on the size of the tusk). The general consensus is that the tusk doesn't serve a critical purpose for survival since only about fifteen percent of females have one. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

Mane, Stripes, Fin

Female blue whales carry their young for twelve months. During that time they eat roughly four percent of their body weight daily, amounting to some sixty percent of their overall body weight throughout the summer foraging period. As to the calving process itself, marine biologists know next to nothing beyond that it takes place in the warmer waters at the southern extreme of the whales' migratory cycle, where they both mate and look after their young. Difficulty: Hard.

 

In colder waters near one of the poles, There is no specific place for calving, Researchers don't know

Cachalots (pronounced cash-uh-lots) could take an entire page in the "Guinness World Records" book if a whale enthusiast ever got on the editorial staff there. Their brains (about five times the size of a human's) are not just huge because they are big animals. Their brains are also proportionately larger than anything alive. The portions of the brain controlling smell and taste are reduced but hearing is keenly developed which is not surprising as it is believed they use their calls both to communicate and as echolocation for hunting.

There are a few larger whales but all are baleen filter feeders making the cachalot the world's largest toothed predator. Giant squid actually have the largest eyes on earth. The mighty blue whale outdoes the cachalot slightly on size for tail and blowhole. Though it is a tough comparison on the latter because their blowhole is one of several features which makes a cachalot very easy to identify at a distance. It is S-shaped and pointed at a 45-degree angle to vertical which gives a very distinct spray pattern. Difficulty: Hard.

 

blowhole, tail flukes, eyes

At birth, blue whale calves measure seven metres long and weigh three tonnes. They will eventually grow to a length of thirty metres and weigh more than two hundred tonnes. Difficulty: Hard.

 

four metres, ten metres, one metre

Baby dolphins are called calves.

An ephyna is a baby jellyfish, a cria is a baby alpaca and a kit is the name given to a baby ferret. Difficulty: Easy.

 

cria, kit, ephyna

Although they are found predominantly in the Arctic Ocean, sometimes a stray narwhal can be found swimming much further south in areas such as the Hudson Bay. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean

The order Sirenia includes only manatees and dugongs. There was a third species--Steller's sea cow, but they were wiped out in the mid to late 1700s. Due to their long tail sections, manatees and dugongs had the general appearance of the mythological Greek sirens who lured sailors to their death in shallow, rocky water. Difficulty: Hard.

 

They are so peaceful and serene, The man who first studied them was named Silas Syren, They make a high-pitched sound like a siren

The Latin for whales & dolphins is 'cetus', simply meaning 'large sea creature'. There are around 86 species of cetacean found worldwide. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Serpent, Fish, Dragon

Maui's dolphin can only be found in the North Island of New Zealand, on the west coast, though their range once reached all around the North Island in the 19th century. It is the only dolphin which can be found exclusively in New Zealand (as well as the dolphin they are a subspecies of). They can be found in small pods (groups of dolphins) of about 1-5 dolphins close to the shore (about 9 kilometres or 5 nautical miles from the shore) where the water isn't too deep. During summer they may venture closer to shore. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Australia, Indonesia, Japan

A dolphin is a mammal. Though it may live in the water, it needs air to breathe. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

Fish, Bird, Amphibian

The narwhal has an elongated, helical tusk growing from its upper left jaw. Helical means that it is in the shape of a helix, so that it is in a counter-clockwise spiral (from the point of view of the narwhal). Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

its unusual pink colour, its square head, the fringe of "hair"

Because the blue whale spends its entire life in water it does not need to carry its weight like land animals do. Although it is a highly evolved mammal that does need to have great diving capabilities these are not the specific reasons for its impressive size. Difficulty: Average.

 

It is a mammal., It is very evolved., It needs great size to make rapid dives.

This species is declared to be 'functionally extinct' because in 2006, a group of marine biologists went on an expedition along the Yangtze River to try and find one. They couldn't find any, and four years earlier, the last one in captivity had died. It isn't likely that there are any left wild. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Thames river dolphin, Rhine river dolphin, Mississippi river dolphin

The binomial name of the narwhal has been derived from its genus (Monodon) and species (M. monoceros). The binomial name means 'one tooth, one horn', an accurate representation of the narwhal due to the fact that it has one tooth (or horn) that is shaped like that of a unicorn tusk. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Monodon cetecea, Monodontidae monoceros, Monoceros cetecea

Humans are the only enemy and predator of an orca. The orcas have been hunted down and killed by fisherman who claimed that the whales depleted their fish stock. Also many things such as commercial shipping, whale watching and live capture for marine parks can harm the orca's population. Difficulty: Easy.

 

shark, other orcas, other species of whale

The blubber is usually around 10-15 cm thick. Imagine taking the mattress off of your bed, wrapping it around your body, then going swimming, that's what it would be like to be a beluga whale. Difficulty: Hard.

 

60, 10, 90

They were recognized as mammals in 1758 by the Swedish biologist Linnaeus. Mammals give birth to live young, have hair, are warm-blooded, all traits that whales share, even down to stubble-like hair that many species have on their snouts. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

fish, amphibian, shark

The largest blue whale recovered was 110 feet long, longer than a 737 jetliner! Difficulty: Easy.

 

Sperm, Humpback, Bowhead

Orca belong to the same family as dolphins and whales. They are mammals: warm blooded, air breathing, and bear their young alive. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Shark, Fish, Badger

Moby Doll was actually a young male. But this wasn't known until after his death and an autopy was performed. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Shamu, Corky, Namu

Narwhals live in the Arctic waters of Canada, Russia, Greenland and Norway. They do migrate with the seasons. In the winter time they can be found in deep offshore waters under thick ice. In the summer they move closer to coasts. In winter they spend time in areas with very little open water. They have an amazing ability to deep dive. They have excellent oxygen storage capacity and can dive for up to twenty four minutes and as deep as sixteen hundred meters (over five thousand feet!). Difficulty: Easy.

 

Great Barrier Reef, Mediterranean waters, Indian Ocean

Cachalots have a large cavity in their head filled with an oily, yellowish-white liquid. Early whalers believed this was a massive sperm reservoir so the substance was dubbed spermaceti, and the name sperm whale naturally followed.

Incidentally, the German word for head is "kopf" and sperm is "sperma". Not much chance for such a low-grade international incident there. Difficulty: Hard.

 

because boy cachalots will be boys, a mistranslation of the German word for head, some sailor thought the whale looked like a giant sperm

When the time comes to give birth, female dolphins will move into shallow water. They are usually accompanied by other females who offer comfort, protect the mother from predators and help the newborn calf reach the surface to breathe. Difficulty: Average.

 

deep water, coral reefs, underwater caves

Humans, in particular Inuit peoples, hunt narwhals for blubber and food. Polar bears and walruses also hunt narwhals, but they are not main predators and will only go after narwhals by accident or if there is nothing else to eat. Difficulty: Average.

 

polar bears, walruses, sharks

A morbillivirus affects only members of one mammalian order under natural conditions. In the case of dolphin morbillivirus, the order affected is Cetacea, which includes dolphins, porpoises, and whales. Major epidemics can occur if those creatures infected with the disease are exposed to populations that are not immune from the virus. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Dolphins, otters, and sharks, Manatees, porpoises, and sea bears, Sharks, whales, and dolphins

Mysticete means 'moustached whale' due to the hairy baleen plates used to sift plankton and krill etc. Odontocete refers to all toothed whales such as the sperm whale and killer whale. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Odontocetes and Megaptera, Balaenoptera and Mysticetes, Musculus and Phocena

The Maui's dolphin was originally thought to be the Hector's dolphin itself. In 2002, Dr Alan Baker found differences in skeleton structure, colouration and genetics between the two, so Maui's dolphin was named a subspecies of the Hector's dolphin. The differences between the two are quite amazing considering how close their distribution range is to each other geographically. Sadly, the Hector's dolphin is listed as "Endangered" by the IUCN.

The other options are dolphin species, but the Maui's dolphin is not a subspecies any of them. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Bottlenose dolphin, Common dolphin, Killer whale

The hole on the top of the head is called the blowhole. When a dolphin goes underwater the hole closes and when it comes up for air it opens. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

breathe hole, air hole, water hole

About one quarter of all blue whales observed have scars from being aggressively hit by orcas (killer whales). It is unknown how many blue whales die due to these orca attacks.

Difficulty: Hard.

 

Giant squid., Great white shark., Sting ray.

The vaquita has been called the 'most endangered cetacean', and will most likely be the next to become extinct. There are supposed to be 100 to 300 left. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Harbour porpoise, Beluga, Finless porpoise

They have a dorsal ridge on their back instead of a fin. Since they're from the arctic, they use the ridge to break through ice to find a place to breathe. And a dorsal fin would bang on the ice everytime that they swam. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Pectoral, Fluke, They have all of these

All of the largest whale families are baleen whales who strain the water for krill and various plankton. Ironic, isn't it, that the very largest animals on Earth eat some of the smallest animals they can find. Difficulty: Easy.

 

fish, other whales, coral

The substance in the head, from which came the oil and wax, looked like human sperm, thus the name. Difficulty: Average.

 

From its promiscuity, From its massive amount of sperm, From the dominance of males

Each population differs in behaviour, social organization and appearance of dorsal fins. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Residents, Migrates and Rogues, Shallow, Offshore and Ocean, Ocean, Shoreline and Rogues

Killer whales and dolphins have the benefit of echolocation to make up for the lack of a sense of smell. Difficulty: Hard.

 

sight, taste, hearing

Another unique characteristic of the narwhal's appearance is the fact that it does not have a dorsal fin. Not having a dorsal fin actually benefits the narwhal given where they live. It cuts down on body surface area and allows them to travel closely under ice sheets. The body shape is stout and shaped like a torpedo and the color changes depending on the age of the narwhal. Newborns are blue-gray, young narwhals are blue-black and adults are mottled gray. They become more mottled as they age. Difficulty: Average.

 

Tail flukes, Pectoral fin, Flippers

Krill, the predominant food source for blue whales, are tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that swarm in great clouds in the oceans.

The blue whale's feeding method is simple; it swims forward at speed with mouth wide open (up to eighty-eight degrees), scooping up as much as two hundred twenty tons of seawater at a time and whatever is in it. Then the animal's remarkable anatomy comes into play. Members of a group of species called rorqual whales, they have pleated, expandable throats with sixty to eighty-eight grooves which allows the skin to expand during feeding. Moreover, they are baleen whales, their upper jaw lined with seventy to three hundred ninety-five black baleen plates.

During feeding, the whale squeezes the seawater out through the curtain-like baleen with pressure from the throat pouch and tongue. It then swallows the krill, releasing the water back into the sea. This style of feeding emphasizes quantity over selectivity. So, sometimes the whale inadvertently eats fish, octopus and other sea life. It is also surprisingly energy efficient. By targeting a particularly dense swarm, the whale can swallow up to five hundred kilos of krill, eating four hundred fifty-seven thousand calories in a single bite, that provides almost two hundred times the amount it burned in the lunge.

Furthermore, the whale maximizes calorie intake by increasing the number of lunges while selecting the thickest krill patches. This provides enough energy for everyday activities while allowing the whale to store additional energy for migration and reproduction. It is now known that a blue whale consumes sixteen tons of krill daily.

It is believed that, along with other baleen whale species, blue whales engage in behavior that minimizes direct competition with other baleen whales. Different species select different feeding spaces and times as well as different prey species. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Sharks, Plants such as seaweed, A mix of plant and animal food sources

Males and females are born the same size, about three meters (11 feet) long, but the boys rapidly begin to outgrow the girls and develop the elongated, bulkier head for ramming enemies (would-be predators, or for the last few centuries, whaling ships). Adult males end up 16-21 meters (50-70 feet) and tip the scales at over 40,000 kilograms (45 short tons) while females reach 11-12 meters (35-40 feet).

Of course, sea stories being what they are, tales of huge whales exist. The cachalot which retaliated against and sank the whaler Essex, for instance, was estimated to be 85 feet long by sailors on board, but the likelihood that, under duress, they may have been prone to exaggeration seems high. Difficulty: Hard.

 

roughly the same length and weight, roughly the same length but twice as heavy, twice as long but roughly the same weight

Much like elephants, female sperm whales and their calves live in small family groups while mature males live alone. Difficulty: Easy.

Since dolphins are air-breathers, in the time it takes to be born, the calf would drown if it came out head-first. Difficulty: Hard.

 

it's more comfortable, it helps with swimming, it makes the birth more easy