by Guest Author – Mila Martinov
I wrote this article because, as you know, I love sea creatures. They are so cool! I hope you like this article and enjoy the fun learning. Last time, I wrote about jellyfish. Today, I want to tell you about the coolest mammals in the sea.
1. Blue whale (prettiest of them all)
This whale is the biggest animal ever. A Blue Whale is about the length of a medium-sized airplane. Despite its size, the whale eats tiny krill (krill is a small shrimp-like animal that is incredibly tiny). A Blue Whale eats millions of them per day. To catch its food, the Blue Whale goes through a large group of krill with its mouth open. The krill flows into it. As the whale closes it’s mouth, the water flows back out to the sea through the gills, but the krill stays inside.
2. Beluga whale (my personal favorite)
Beluga calves (babies) are born gray in color. Belugas don’t turn white until they are a few years old. Beluga whales live in the Arctic (the coldest place on earth). Large pods of beluga whales travel south until they find open water. Since Belugas are mammals, and breathe air, they swim to the surface to take a breath. They can’t stay under the ice for too long, or they will drown. The Beluga whale is the length of two twin beds. They eat fish, crabs, squid, octopus and mussels.
3. Narwhal (the unicorn of the sea)
A Narwhal sucks its food into its mouth. Since the narwhal has only two teeth, it can’t chew. One of those teeth is a long tusk that sticks out of the upper lip. It looks like a unicorn horn. A female narwhal can grow a tusk, but it is not very long. A male’s tusk is as long as three baseball bats put together. Two male narwhals sometimes use their tusks to “sword fight”. Some scientists think this helps narwhals find out who is the strongest.
4. Sperm whale (the funny looking one)
Sperm whales live everywhere, except the freezing north and south poles. They are 65 feet long. With their very large teeth, sperm whales eat squid, sharks, and fish. They have very wrinkled skin too. Sperm whales can swim up to 9,800 feet deep below sea-level to find food. In fact, their habitat is located in deep water. A male sperm whale is longer than a female, and they have huge heads shaped like squares.
5. Humpback whale (the bumpy one)
Humpback whales do not have teeth. They have baleen instead (baleen are little fluffy things that hang over the whale’s mouth). A humpback whale opens it’s mouth and small creatures flow in with the water. When the whale closes it’s mouth, Baleen blocks the exit. The humpback whale uses its tongue to push water out through the baleen. The baleen pulls the water out and the food stays inside. Then, the whale swallows.
I love sea creatures, and am very happy to have shared these facts with you. I hope you enjoyed reading this. You should go whale watching someday. It’s very fun.
Sources:
“Ocean. The Definitive Visual Guide”, Fabien Cousteau, Rob Dunn, Isobel Comley
“National Geographic Kids: First Big Book of the Ocean”, Catherine D. Hughes
“National Geographic Kids: Little Kids First Big Book of Animals”, Catering D. Hughes
The Lighthouse 