Transcript The Anatomy and Physiology of Toothed and Baleen Whales

The Anatomy and Physiology
of
Toothed and Baleen Whales
Brunilda Cruz
Like all mammals…
 Whales
breathe air into lungs.
 They have hair.
 Whales are warm-blooded.
 Whales have mammary glands with which
they nourish their young.
 Whales have a four-chambered heart.
Toothed Whale
(Killer Whale)
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Counter shading allows
the Orca to blend into the
ocean environment and
camouflage itself from
prey.
Color differences may
also help orcas identify
the opposite sex since
females have an oval
genital patch with three
black spots and males
have an elongated white
patch with a single black
slit covering the penis.
Reproduction
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In the wild, orcas become
sexually mature between
the ages of 10 and 18
years of age and are
thought to be actively
reproducing by the time
the male reaches about
20 feet in length and the
female reaches about 16
feet.
At birth, a calf is generally
about 6-7 feet long and
weighs around 400
pounds.
Male or Female?
The male’s dorsal fin
is upright and up to
six feet taller than the
female’s dorsal fin.
 The female dorsal fin
goes up to 4 feet tall.
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Teeth
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Orcas have 10-14 pairs of
large sharp teeth distributed on
each side of the jaw, for a total
of 40 to 56 pairs.
The teeth curve inwards and
backwards - this helps the orca
catch its prey.
Teeth average about 3 inches
long and about 1 inch in
diameter, but some are even
longer.
An average-sized orca will eat
about 550 pounds of food a
day.
Spouting-Breathing
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Orcas breathe air at the
surface of the water
through a single blowhole
located near the top of
the head. Their blow is a
single, low bushy cloud.
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They take 4 short breaths
10 to 30 seconds apart
and then dive for between
1 and 4 minutes.
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The Orca's circulatory system utilizes many
arteries and veins in the flippers, flukes and
dorsal fin that allow it to transfer heat from the
body in warm conditions or conserve heat it as it
swims in icy seas.
 Its size also helps conserve heat as its surface
area to volume ratio is lower than other
mammals.
 A high metabolic rate increases heat production
while a coating of blubber reduces heat loss,
streamlines its body to conserve energy and
serves as food storage.
Whale Flukes

A Whale's tail is composed of two lobes, each of which is
called a fluke. There is a notch, a v-shaped indentation
where the flukes (or lobes) of a Whale's tail meet.
 Flukes move up and down to propel the Whale through
the water.
 Flukes have no bones in them. They are made of
muscles and dense fibrous tissue.
 The arteries that supply the flukes with blood are
surrounded by veins to maintain the Whale's
temperature.
 The Blue Whale's flukes are the largest and are 25 feet
wide.
Photos of Whale Flukes

The heartbeat of a Whale varies from Whale to
Whale. Like all larger animals, they have a
slower heart rate than smaller animals.
 The average heart rate of large Whales is from
about 10 to 30 heart beats per minute.
 The heart rate of the beluga was measured at
12-20 beats per minute.
 Whales lower their heart rate when they dive
beneath the water, this conserves oxygen and
lets them dive longer.
Right Whale
Baleen Whales
(Right Whales)
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The Right Whales head is
approximately 1/3rd of its
body’s length.
one skull of a Baleen Whale
was measured at 5.2 meters
and weighed 2,200 pounds.
The jaw in this head is greatly
arched, allowing the right
whale to carry extremely long
baleen plates, up to 9 feet
long. About 205-270 plates are
found on each side of the
mouth with a clear opening in
the front.
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The Right Whales skeleton is simple and compared to
other whales it is light.
The skeleton accounts for only about 14-15% of the
whale's total body weight.
The Whale's spine consists of 55-57 vertebrae including
7 cervical, fused in the neck region apparently to hold
the enormous head, 14-15 thoracic, 10-11 lumbar, and
25 caudal.
In comparison humans have 33 vertebrae -- 7 cervical,
12 dorsal, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral, and 4 coccygeal.
Almost all mammals have seven cervical (or neck)
vertebrae no matter how long the neck.
Photo of Right Whale Skeleton
 Right
whales have 14-15 pairs of ribs
while humans have 12 pairs.
 There arm bones (humerus, radius and
ulna) in the right whale are extremely short
compared to human proportions
 The pelvic region in the whale is reduced
to an elongated pelvic bone.
 The
flipper of the Right Whale is similar to
a human hand.
 The Right Whale’s tail muscle’s are the
largest part of its body.
Right Whale Skin
 Right
Whale’s have very thin skin.
 Their skin can be rubbed off very easily.
 Researchers have observed numerous
white marks on right whales.
 The skin covers a thick layer of blubber,
strong muscles, and a lightweight
skeleton.
 Skin
flaps on the dorsal (bottom) side of
the whale cover its genitalia (two nipples
and birth canal in the female and a
retracted penis in the male). The whale's
genital slit is located further back along the
central dorsal line from the navel but
before the anus.
Blubber
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The first purpose of the blubber is that it is used as a
barrier, to maintain the warmth inside the whale and
prevent heat loss to the cold ocean water.
Second, the blubber serves as a food reservoir, this is
especially important when the whales cannot find large
patches of zooplankton in northern waters or when
female Right Whales are pregnant, they move to warm
southern waters.
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Third, Blubber is used as fairing material.
Digestive System
Scientists believe that Right Whale’s have three
major chambers in the stomach, possibly four,
the fourth being an extension of the intestine.
 Food passes through the whales mouth into its
esophagus, on its way to the whale's multichambered stomach.
 It then passes through the intestine and the
remaining waste eliminates into the ocean.
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 The
first chamber in all whales is a
dilatable, sac-like, extension of the
esophagus with no digestive glands.
 The second chamber is where digestive
juices are released, pepsin and
hydrochloric acid have been found in parts
of the stomach of some whales.
 Most Whales have a third chamber, which
is the pyloric part of the stomach.
Kidneys
Like human’s the Right Whale uses its kidneys
for cleaning the blood and separating out the
waste products for later removal from the body.
 Eliminating waste products brought in by the
kidney requires a certain amount of water.
 Not only is water necessary for the production of
urine, but for feces, oxygen extraction in the
lungs, and in most mammals for sweating
(temperature regulation).
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How they intake water
 Scientists
believe these animals do not
drink seawater, but satisfy their need for
water with the fluids contained in their
diets.
 Plankton-eaters, such as right whales,
must produce a urine that is more
concentrated than seawater in order to
accommodate their diet and any
incidentally swallowed seawater.
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Whales lose additional water when they nurse
their young.
 One solution is the concentrated milk (30-40%
fat) as compared to cow's milk (4% fat).
 This type of milk is not just needed for fast
growth of the baby, but to economize on the
mother's fluid levels.
 A more watery milk would dehydrate the mother
who cannot easily feed with a newborn by her
side.
Spout-Breathing
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A Right Whale has a
distinctive V-shape blow.
Most of their time is spent
underwater.
most right whales
average 5 to 10 breaths
at intervals of 15 to 30
seconds before diving for
5 to 30 minutes. Most
deep dives are about 20
minutes.
Genitalia
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Right whales exhibit similar reproductive organs as other
mammals, with some distinctive differences.
The female's mammary nipples are hidden within skin
slits on either side of her body just forward of the genital
slit. The umbilicus (belly button) is forward on this ventral
line. The anus is located closer to the tail stem.
In males, the penis is coiled within the body cavity. The
erect penis may reach a length of 10 to 11 feet. A male's
testes may weigh up to a ton or more.
Reproduction
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Nobody has ever witnessed a large whale giving
birth, scientists estimated the gestation period to
be between 350 and 400 days.
 Calving takes place during the winter off the
coasts of Georgia and northern Florida.
 The calves are four to five meters long at birth
and weigh approximately 1760 pounds. The
mother nurses the calf for 10 to 12 months
during which the calf grows to between 8 and 10
meters and 11000 pounds.
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Calving intervals are three to five years, which
includes a one year lactation period and a one
year gestation period.
Males don't participate at all in raising the calf.
 Researchers have rarely spotted males in the
calving grounds off the southeast coast, and the
only times males and females interact is during
sexual behavior.
Mating
References
 http://www.graysreef.nos.noaa.gov/whaleb
ook/anatomy.html
 http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subject
s/whales/species/Orca.shtml
 http://www.worldwidewhale.com/orcafacts.
php
Thank You!
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