Cetacean Focus

WHALES: People of the Deep

About twelve species of whales live in the ocean today. They are a part of the Cetacea order of marine mammals, which also includes dolphins and porpoises, all of whom breathe out of a blowhole in the top of their head.

Facts:
One of the deepest divers is the Sperm whale, which can dive more than 1 km or as deep as 3 km in search of food, and can stay underwater for almost 2 hours.

Whales withstand enormous water pressure when diving deep, so they carry air down only in their lungs and other respiratory passages. Thus, little nitrogen is dissolved in the blood to cause the "bends."

Whales are warm-blooded; a thick layer of insulating fat (as thick as 20 inches in some whales) keeps their body 96.8 degrees.

Whales are known to be highly intelligent and communicative, social creatures, who've inhabited the world's oceans for a hundred times longer than humans have the land. One could claim they are the rightful inheritors of this ocean planet, and may be the ones most representative to the galactic community of highly-evolved Earth beings.

Threats to Whale Life:

Navy Sonar – A new type of high intensity sonar recently approved for the navy called LFAS (Low Frequency Active Sonar) has ignited a debate over its impact on marine mammals. The Navy states that biophysical damage to marine life starts at 180 dB, and whale protection groups believe that the 240 dB sound and pressure wave produced by LFAS will to kill, deafen, and disorient whales and other marine life. In addition, whales communicate with one another over long distances underwater, so additional ocean noise effectively shrinks their "world" and makes it harder to find a mate.

Whaling – The practice of killing whales for their flesh destroys whale populations. Even though many whale species were protected a moratorium on whaling declared by the International Whaling Commission in 1986, Norway and Japan have deliberately defied international law by hunting whales on a regular basis.

Fishing Bycatch - Entanglement in fishing gear kills more cetaceans worldwide each year than any other cause. Small cetaceans swim into nets, get trapped underwater, and die when they cannot surface to breathe. Entangled large whales can also drown but less often, as they are generally powerful enough to break free. Nevertheless, after breaking loose of the nets, they may continue to tow some of the gear for long periods, and this can cause debilitating injuries and even slow death. Fishing line, for example, can coil around an animal's head or lodge in its baleen, interfering with feeding.