Saving The Whales Will Help Preserve Human Life

Many species of whale are under threat of extinction but the changes needed to ensure their survival are the same as the ones needed to ensure the continued survival of the planet as a whole.

All mammals breathe air into their lungs and whales are no exception. These aquatic mammals are descendants of mammals that have gone back to the sea and those huge creatures were of the order artiodacyla and they had many similarities to the modern day hippopotamus.

Image via Wikipedia

Molecular biology and DNA testing gives convincing evidence for this connection and verifies that whales entered the water approximately 50 million years ago. Whales are divided into two broad groups called baleen and toothed whales. There was a third group but this is now totally extinct.

The first group of whales has a sieve like mesh at the back of the mouth which strains plankton and microscopic creatures from the water. This group contains the largest species of whales which seems strange because, logically, it would be expected that the larger species would feed of the larger, more substantial food source.

Image via Wikipedia

The second group is the toothed whale that preys on squid, fish or both. This is the group that has such a sensitive and accurate echo location system. This system is also known as biosonar and is also found in other mammals including dolphins, shrews and bats. Echo locating animals project sound and listen for the echo that comes back and this helps them to navigate, or hunt.

Image by natalielucier via Flickr

Changes in the environment and the increasing use of sonar equipment on board ships has affected the toothed whales very badly. It disrupts their sonar so that hunting is not as effective and it misdirects their navigational abilities. This could be a major contribution to the disturbing incidences of whales beaching themselves, or getting stuck upstream in rivers.