Cetacea

The mammalian order Cetacea is composed of two parvorders, the Odontoceti (toothed whales) and the Mysticeti (baleen whales). They compromise of over 80 known living species of whales, dolphins and porpoises (Reiss & Marino, 2001; Simmonds, 2006). The compelling sets of characteristics they have acquired over their 55-60-million-year evolution including echolocation ability and complex social organisation (Hof, Chanis, & Marino, 2005) have created great belief that this order contains some of the most intelligent animals (Simmonds, 2006), with the suggestion that they are second to humans in terms of general intelligence (Reiss & Marino, 2001). Modern cetacean brains are among the largest of all mammals in terms of both general size and in relation to body size, with the largest brain in the animal kingdom being possessed by the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) (Marino, 2004) with a mass of 60% larger than that of an elephant (Marino et al., 2007). It is unsurprising that encephilization (a measure of the size of the brain relative to the body) is commonly linked to cognitive abilities, with some cetaceans having the second highest encephilization quotient after humans (Manager, 2013). A hypothesis put forward by Jerison (1973) that the encephilization quotient is a biological indicator of intelligence, with high encephilization quotients…

Stenella longirostris produce milk and from their mammary glands so they fits into the Mammalia class. Female mammals have to devote a lot of time into their offspring because of this feeding skill, so therefore these animals seem very family preferentially. Dolphin’s order is Cetacea. Spinner dolphins are believed to be descendants of archaeocetes so they are categorized in the Cetacea order. They takes no part in life on land at any point in development and live a completely aquatic…

is known for writing “Not one of them would sit down, or eat a bit of any thing.... On expressing my surprise at this, they were all taboo, as they said; which word has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden” Cook & King 1821, p. 348. Taboos expand across a wide range of do’s and don’ts from social behavior to food and drink standards. In today’s society taboos about food are the most prolific. It is society unacceptable to eat certain animals from…

The killer whale or orca is another name for species Orcinus orca. It is a toothed whale that belongs to the family Delphinidae in the order Cetacea.. They are found globally in all oceans. In fact, after man they are the most widespread mammal in the world. Killer whales live in pods. The structure of the pods are usually matrilineal. This means that the offspring wait with their mother throughout life.The individuals in a matrilineal group travel closely together. The killer whale worldwide…

that wish to do whales harm. The process of whaling has been around since about 800 A.D. whales were hunted for their meat, oils and bones. They were also turned into shoe polishes, margarines, dog foods, and tennis racket strings. Coastal species in Europe, and then in North America declined to an extremely low level. Species such as the humpback, fin, right, blue, sei, bowhead, and the sperm whales were hunted to the brink of extinction due to the increase in demand (Lang “Detailed…

Their order is Cetacea, which includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Bottlenose dolphins are in the Delphinidae family, consisting of moderate toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Their genus is Tursiops, a class of larger dolphins with sickle-shaped dorsal fins and a stubbed snout, and the bottlenose dolphins’ species is Truncatus, which was derived from the word truncate. According to Dictionary.com, the word truncate means “To shorten (something) by cutting off the top or the end. A…

Dolphins are mammals not a fish. They are mammals because they breathe air directly to their lungs. They have hair at some point during their life cycle. They are warm blooded and give birth to live young. And they also nurse their young. Dolphins put a lot of their energy into raising their youngs. The ocean is a hard place to live for a mammals but a dolphin are adapted for the marine environment. Inside their pectoral fins they have a skeletal structure similar to the human's arm and feet.…

In the year 2009, a documentary film titled, The Cove by director Louie Psihoyos, was released covering the actions of an elite team of filmmakers, and activist as they capture the events of their operation to expose the truth about the Taiji, Japan’ dolphin slaughter. This is a yearly event that takes place at the beginning of September and takes course over a course of months, where fisherman from the area corral dolphins into a small enclosed area. When this happens the fisherman allow parks,…

Whales and Dolphins in Danger In 2007, a film called “The Cove” was released revealing the savage hunt of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. In 2013, “Blackfish” was released, revealing the monstrosities of keeping killer whales captive at SeaWorld. Both films received award nominations and massive media attention for their call to action and revelation of the endangerments of marine mammals. However, there are so many more dangers to whales and dolphins than just dolphin slaughter, or circus shows at…

Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), are found in mostly temperate and tropical marine waters throughout the world. Temperature plays a role in the distribution of dolphins, also due to distribution of prey. In North American they typically inhabit water temperatures from 10C to 32C. In the western North Atlantic, at the northern limits bottlenose dolphin ' range, they are seasonally migratory and are more southerly distributed in the winter. They are found as far north as the Kuril…