Whales are the largest animals on earth. They are not classified as fish but mammals, like cows, horses, dogs, and human beings.  They do not lay eggs but give birth to live young.  Mother whales nurse their young by giving them milk from their breasts.  Whales have lungs and breathe air like all mammals, unlike fish that have gills and get their oxygen from water.

A whale does not have a nose, but two blowholes at the top of its head, or in some cases, just one.  It comes to the surface of the water in order to breathe air through its blowholes before going back down in the water. Usually, it breathes once every five minutes, but can remain submerged for more than 30 minutes, before coming back to the surface to take another breath.  It forcibly exhales through its blowholes and when it does, it appears as if they spout water into the air when it comes to the surface, when it really expels vapor.

Whales are capable of descending about half a mile beneath the surface of the ocean.  Their blubber enables them to do so. The blubber is about a foot thick, located below the skin, protecting them from the extreme cold at the ocean depths.

Whale calves:  A male whale bull often has a harem of cows.  A cow gives birth to a single calf and rarely gives birth to twins. Calves are able to swim immediately after they are born. The mother nurses its calf for as long as 6 months and protects it until it is fully weaned.  Calves are about 14 feet long at birth.

Groups of whales: There are two main groups:  one has teeth; the other has a substance called whalebone or baleen.

Whaling: Man has been hunting and killing whales for centuries, which accounts for the fact that their numbers are beginning to dwindle.  There is presently an international commission that regulates whaling.  Whaling used to be a thriving industry. In the United States, the chief whaling port was New Bedford, Massachusetts, as well as those along the New England coast.

Whaling ships:  Previously, a whaling ship used to be equipped with sails that hindered speed.  A man would remain on the mast, in a cage, called “crow’s nest,” and would shout out as soon as a whale appears on the surface.  Sailors would immediately go on rowboats called dories or whaleboats and harpoon the whales as they  approach.  Nowadays,  there are large steel ships called factory ships, many of which come from Norway, Japan and Russia.  The harpoon stands on a platform in from of the catcher’s ship. The sailor does not throw the harpoon, but fires it from a gun. The end of the harpoon has a charge of explosive powder. When the harpoon hits its target, the powder explodes and kills the whale.

In spite of regulations that remain in force, there are countries such as Japan that continue to hunt whales indiscriminately, thus violating an important international law that was put in place, in order to save the endangered whales.