Amazing Whale Facts

Whales are not fish. They are warm-blooded animals called mammals. This also means that they do not breathe underwater. They have blowholes on the top of their heads that act like our nostrils do. Just like we hold our noses when we dive underwater, whales close their blowholes to hold their breath. Whales with teeth have only one blowhole, while whales without teeth have two.
There are 78 species of whales, small ones are called dolphins and porpoises.
Whales don't have vocal chords like we do- they make sounds in their foreheads by rubbing their tongue at the top of their mouths, making clicks or groans or cries.
Blue Whales are the biggest animals in the World. (Even bigger than the biggest dinosaur!)
A baby blue whale (calf) is 23-27 ft. (7-8 m.) long when born and weighs about 3 tonnes (2700kg.) It grows at a rate of 9 lbs/hour or 200 lbs. a day!
Blue whales can take in 66 tonnes of water in one gulp, and eats enough food in a day to fill 64,000 cereal bowls.
Humpback Whales can blow bubbles as small as a pin-head and as big as a party-pizza!! They use their bubbles to trap fish and then they eat them. Yum!
The shapes and colors of a humpback's tail is as distinctive as human fingerprints. (That's how they tell them apart!)
Orca Whales (Killer Whales) have been known to eat other whales, seals, deer, and other wildlife (more than just fish!) and are the most carnivorous(meat-eating) of all the whales.
Sperm Whales swallows its food whole, and especially likes giant squid. It can dive over 3,000 feet deep and can stay underwater up to 90 minutes.
Beluga Whales, also called sea canaries, like to imitate noises (mimicry). They like to trick other animals (people, too!) by sounding like clicks, bells, sirens, whistles, moos (like cows), and lots more!
Male Narwhals are called unicorns of the sea because they can grow a tooth over 10 ft. (3 m.) long, which is coiled like a corkscrew. In the whaling days, sailors sold these "teeth" to merchants, saying they were indeed unicorn horns (and probably made a lot of money, too!)