Whales

Cetaceans, in particular whales, are the largest among animals: a blue whale (blue whale) in an adult state reaches an average body length of 25 m (the largest - up to 33 m) and masses of 90–120 tons. All cetaceans , including whales, dolphins and porpoises, are descendants of land mammals of the artiodactyl order . According to molecular genetic data, both cetaceans and artiodactyls belong to the clade of cetaceans, which includes whales, hippos, and all artiodactyls. Moreover, according to these data, hippos are among the closest living relatives of whales; they came from a common ancestor who lived about 54 million years ago ^{[5] [6]} . The whales switched to an aquatic lifestyle about 50 million years ago ^[7] . Cetaceans are divided into three suborders:

• Baleen whales ( Mysticeti ), characterized by a mustache , a filter-like structure located on the upper jaw, consisting mainly of keratin . Us is used to filter plankton from water, filtering a large amount of water with the help of a comb structure of the mouth. Whiskers are the largest suborder of whales.
• Toothed whales ( Odontoceti ) possess teeth and prey on large fish and squid. This is their main source of food. A remarkable ability of this group is the ability to feel their environment through echolocation . Toothed include dolphins and porpoises.
• Ancient whales ( Archaeoceti ) are currently a completely extinct group.

Like all mammals, whales breathe air with the help of the lungs , are warm-blooded , feed their young with milk from the mammary glands and have hair (albeit rather reduced) ^[8] .

The body is fusiform , like a streamlined body of fish . The fins, sometimes also called fins, have a lobe-like appearance. At the end of the tail there is a fin of two horizontal blades, playing the role of mover and stabilizer, providing forward movement due to wave-like movements in the vertical plane (unlike, for example, fish and aquatic reptiles, in which the plane of movement of the rowing tail is horizontal).

Different protective devices have been developed for different groups of cetaceans to protect the skin from the harmful effects of the ultraviolet rays of the sun: for example, a blue whale is able to increase the content of ultraviolet absorbing pigments in the skin (“sunbathe”); others, like a sperm whale , trigger a special “stress response”, as a protection against oxygen radicals; others, like finwal , use both methods ^[9] . In cold water, whales maintain their body temperature thanks to a thick layer of fat under the skin. This layer protects internal organs from hypothermia.

Due to the fact that whales, like dolphins, need to occasionally rise to the surface for breathing, only half of their brain can sleep at a certain point in time.

Whale fishing has been going on since the end of the first millennium AD. The purpose of whaling was primarily the extraction of blubber , which served as fuel and valuable industrial raw materials. The extraction of whales for the sake of meat (whale) began to play a noticeable role only in the second half of the 20th century (whale was used, in particular, for making sausages ). A whalebone was also valuable, vitamin A was obtained from the liver of whales, hormones , in particular insulin , were obtained from glands and the brain

Intensive fishing of whales eventually led to a strong reduction in their numbers, and in 1931 the first international steps were taken to limit its size. In 1982, a moratorium on prey for cetaceans was introduced. Currently, several countries continue to limit the fishing of whales, including for scientific purposes and to meet the needs of indigenous peoples.

Myths about whales penetrated from the east to the Greeks and were thus introduced into the Apocrypha . In the Greek “ Physiologist ”, where the whale is called άσπιδοχελώνη , the same legend is given about it as in the collection of Arabic fairy tales “ 1001 Nights ”: “The whale looks like an island; shipbuilders pester him and, driving in stakes, tie ships to them; the monster does not move; but as soon as they fire on his ridge, he immediately goes into the depths, taking with him the deceived swimmers. " Apocrypha, under the influence of legends common in the East about the Earth resting on some animal, made the whales the foundations of the Earth. According to the “ Conversation of the Three Saints ”, the Earth swims over the great sea on three large whales and 30 small ones; the latter cover with themselves 30 ends of the sea; "Those whales eat a tenth of the fragrance of paradise, and from that they are full." In the legend of Methodius of Tatar about Noah, the global flood is explained by the fact that, at the command of God, the whales retreated from the sea completely, as a result of which the water went to the earth. The Jerusalem Conversation and the Pigeon Book associate the whale movement with the demise of the world. According to the "Pigeon Book" - "Whale fish to all mother fish. The land is based on fish whales; when the whale-fish turns, then our white light will end ” ^[10] .

Images of whales can be found on the arms of Kola , Ust-Kamchatsk and other cities.

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  Coat of arms of Kola , 1781 (whale in the performance of a Russian artist of the 18th century )

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  Coat of arms of Kola , 2016 (whale in the performance of a Russian artist of the 18th century )

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  Coat of arms of Ust-Kamchatsk , 1790 (whale as represented by another Russian artist of the 18th century )

• World Whale and Dolphin Day
• Aetiocetus is a transitional form between early and modern baleen whales .
• Dolphin

• Wiki Answers: Whale Q & A
• Whale evolution
• Oldest fossil whale confirmed land origin
• Dolphin & Whale Research by Science Daily
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society - latest news and information on whales and dolphins
• Whales Tohorā Exhibition Minisite from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
• Whales in Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
• Cetaceans - Extinct Wiki - Wikia

• Carwardine, M. Whales, dolphins and porpoises. - Dorling Kindersley, 2000. - ISBN 0-7513-2781-6 .
• V.E. Sokolov, V.A. Arseniev . Baleen whales. - The science. - ISBN 5-02-005772-X
• Williams, Heathcote. Whale Nation. - N. Y .: Harmony Books, 1988 .-- ISBN 0-517-56932-9 .