There are two kinds of whales. They are toothed whales and baleen whales.
Baleen whales have no teeth in their mouths. Plates called baleen hang from the upper jaw. They work like a sieve. Water goes out and food stays in.
A blue whale can grow about 110 feet long. Its heart is as big as a small car. Blue whales are among the loudest animals on Earth.
Blue whales live in every ocean except the Arctic Ocean. A blue whale's spout can shoot up about 30 feet.
A blowhole is a whale's nostril. A spout is a puff of air from its breath. It is not a spray of water.
A humpback calf is about 13 to 16 feet long when born. It weighs about 2,000 pounds.
Newborn gray whales are about 14 to 16 feet long. They weigh about 2,000 pounds.
Beluga calves are dark gray or bluish. They turn white as they grow up.
Gray whales make one of the longest mammal trips. They swim about 10,000 miles there and back each year.
Words to know
- baleen: hanging plates
- sieve: a strainer
- blowhole: a nose hole
