Where Whales Become Friends
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Explore our web pages to meet whales as individuals, with names and unique personalities.
Whales For Kids
Assemblies - Classrooms
Introduce your students to whales with names, unique personalities and an interest in humans!
Students Questions and Answers
Please understand that some questions simply cannot be answered. Each student should research whales on the web and in the library at school.
How many whales are there?
There are hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins and porpoise in all the oceans.
Estimates of blue whales: 860-2900 individuals
Estimates of humpback whales: 25,000 (1400 humpbacks on the East Coast)
Estimates of Northern Right Whales: 300 (The most endangered of all whales)
Read about whale population numbers at:
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/education/cetaceans/blue2.htm#many
http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/estimate.htm
How many whales did whalers kill?
Whaler's records indicate that more than 2,000,000 whales were killed in the last two centuries.
How many whales lived before whaling?
Blue Whales 160,000-240,000
Humpbacks 150,000
Northern Right Whales 100,000
Important: Look at the numbers estimated now. Do you think whaling should stop?
How long do you think they live?
Humpbacks may live 70-80 years. We don’t know how old Salt is, but we know she is at least 40 years old. She had a calf named Sanchal in 2008!
How many kinds of whales are there?
Whales are included in the term Cetaceans which include all the whales, dolphins and porpoise.
Baleen whales: 13 species
Toothed whales: 68 species
Read about the different whales at http://www.wdcs.org/speciesguide
Why are whales interested in boats?
Humpback whales are very curious. They may want to look at people or listen to the boats engines and generators.
How do whales live deep under the sea when they have to breathe?
Whales can dive deep under the water while searching for food. Sperm whales can dive more than a mile below the surface and hold their breath for an hour or more. Most whales come to the surface every 7-8 minutes. They use 80% of their lungs, we use 10%.
How long have you studied whales?
I have studied whales for 20 years. My company has recorded whales from 17,000 whale watching trips!
Can I have a website to study whales?
Whale Video Company www.whalevideo.com
Whale Adoption
www.whales.orgWhale Watching www.whalewatch.com
What kinds of songs do they sing?
Humpback whales sing a song that changes every year. At the end of the year all the humpback whales are singing the new song!
How many miles can a whale swim in a day?
50-60 miles a day.
Can whales play with each other?
I have watched three humpback whales doing something like follow the leader. The first whale hits his flipper on the water and the others do it too. Then he breaches and the others do that. Then he hits his tail on the water and they do that! Do you think this is playing?
How long can a whale stay under water?
Sperm whales are the diving champions. They can dive 5000 feet and hold their breath for more than one hour!
What kinds of whales live in Antartica?
Some of the whales in the southern seas are the blue, fin, minke and humpback.
Do blue whales live in groups?
Only whales with teeth live in groups. Do blue whales have teeth or baleen?
What kind of whale has the highest population?
The baleen whale that has the highest population is the minke whale.
What is the second deadliest whale?
Orcas or killer whales are the deadliest. They can eat fish, seals, otters and other marine mammals, even humpback or gray whale calves! False killer whales are the next deadliest whale.
Do all the whales get along together?
Most whales do, but killer whales do attack other whales. Remember the rows of scars on some tails? These are made by killer whales when they grab a large whales tail. Look at pictures of Sockeye and Badge for these marks.
Visit
www.whalevideo.com click on Homepage then Named Humpback Whales on this web siteHow do they get all their weight in the air? How do they jump so high?
The tails are huge and there are tons of muscle in the tail stock. They can be just 40 or 50 feet below the surface, give a few strokes of the tail and they are airborne!
How can I adopt a whale and can I adopt a whale that is already adopted? Yes
We have some adoption kits available for sale at $25 each. Your adoption lasts a whole year. You can also search for adoptions on the web.
Click to see the adoption kits.
Are whales still endangered?
Yes, most of the large whales are endangered. The right whale is on the brink of extinction even though it has been completely protected for 60 years.
Pepper: How big is she? How much does she weigh?
I have seen Pepper many times and she is nearly 55 feet long and weighs 50 tons.
How many plankton can fit in a whales mouth?
I’m guessing but I think 99,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 give or take one.
How big are Orcas? How fast can they swim?
Males 27 feet Females 23 feet They weigh 8,000-12,000 pounds.
Orcas can reach speeds of 30 mph.
Have you seen a whale spyhop?
Yes, I have seen whales spyhop so high that half their body is out of the water. This means that the tip of the whales mouth is 25 feet above the surface, higher than most houses! Cats Paw even uses spyhopping to catch fish. Read about Cats Paw.
How many calves does Cats Paw have?
Cats Paw has five calves. Only three were named: Fracture, Velvet and Runway.
Visit this page to see her family tree: www.whalevideo.com/catspaw.htm
Can you find plankton at the beach?
Yes, but it is very small.
How long can a blue whale grow?
110 feet is the largest recorded blue whale.
Are there any websites that show you whale videos?
Yes, in fact we are adding video clips to our website. Click on Salt & Friends and you will see the names that have video clips.
What is the smallest whale?
The harbor porpoise is only five feet long.
Where do whales live?
In all the world’s oceans.
Email: danknaub@comcast.net
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