Whales are the largest creatures to have lived on earth. Like all life, they evolved in the sea and like many other creatures later moved onto the land during their early period of development. Eventually however the whales went back to the sea where the feed was more plentiful and gradually developed to their present size.
There are two main types of whales having quite different feeding and migratory habits and even yielding different products.
Baleen whales
Baleen whales are the main group consisting of most of the larger types of whales. They feed in the Polar Regions in the summer months on small prawn like creatures called krill. These whales do not have teeth as their food is so small but instead have a large mouth with baleen plates each side which are frayed on the inside and act as strainers to retain the krill.
In the winter the baleen whales migrate towards the equator so that the cows can have their calves in the warmer more protected waters with a much better chance of survival than they would if born in the cold harsh polar seas.
Some of the more well known types of baleen whales are the Blue, Fin and Humpback whales although there are many more lesser known types.
Toothed whales
Toothed whales are the second group of whales, which are mostly the smaller species such as the Killer and Pilot whales, which feed mainly on fish.
However, there is one very large toothed species, the Sperm Whale which grows to around 18 metres and unlike the baleen whales which are surface feeders, the Sperm whale can dive to great depths in search of the giant squid which are its main diet. Sperm whales are found mainly in the middle latitudes and seem to wander over vast areas of ocean in search of squid. For this reason they are found along the edge of the continental shelf about 50 kilometres south of Albany. Sperm whales are also different to the baleen whales in that they have a herd system the same as elephants
Introduction to Whales