What type of animal is a whale?

Whale, any of the larger species of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Cetacea. Whales are the heaviest known animals, living or fossil, reaching a maximum size in the blue whale of perhaps more than 30 meters and 200 metric tons. They are distributed throughout the world’s oceans and seas.

What are the characteristics of a whale?

These first relatives of whales had many characteristics of land mammals—hind legs, nostrils for breathing near the front of their nose, and teeth of various sizes (as opposed to baleen or teeth of a single size, like modern whales have).

How do whales make sound?

Like other mammals, all whales can produce sound using a larynx, an organ in the throat. In baleen whales, between the blowhole and the lungs there is a special larynx called the U-fold that directly connects to a unique, expandable sac within the whale’s chest.

What is a rice's whale?

In 2021, they named this whale the Rice's whale ( Balaenoptera ricei) after whale scientist Dale W. Rice, who first discovered the presence of the large whales in the gulf. Rice’s whales can weigh up to 60,000 pounds (that is 30 tons), which is about five times as heavy as an elephant, and they can grow up to 42 feet long.