Whale and Dolphin Information
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Whale Anatomy
Whales may look a bit like large fish, but in fact they are quite different. Being mammals, and having been land animals along their evolution, whale anatomy is different from fish. They do have fish-like features, which have developed in convergent evolution because of similar habitat. But, unlike fish, they have lungs and breathe oxygen from the air, not water. They have bones for five "fingers" inside their flippers, and they also have much larger brains.
Whale and Dolphin Information: Dolphin Anatomy
Because dolphins are also whales, their anatomy incudes all of the above. But because they use echolocation much more than large whales (if the large whales use any), dolphins have also got a well developed melon inside their forehead. It sits in front of their brain, just above the beak. This melon produses the clicking sound which dolphins use in their echiolocation.
Whale Reproduction
Baleen whales are large, often solitary animals. They swim long distances and it is not easy for them to find a mate in the vast oceans. They, therefore, migrate to certain places in warmer waters every year to mate or give birth to calves. The calves take quite a while before they are independent so females only give birth once every 2-3 years.
Whale and Dolphin Information: Dolphin Reproduction
Dolphins, on the other hand, are much smaller animals, live in pods where it's easy to find a mate, and generally travel much shorter distances so that even different pods can meet easier. They don't therefore migrate long distances as do baleen whales. (Dolphins do move nomadically but they don't migrate by definition).
Whale and Dolphin Information: Whale Echolocation
Echolocation works like a sonar: the whale produces sounds, which travel in the water, and waits for echoes to come back. The character and timing of the returning echoes tell the whale about their surroundings. It is mostly used to find out about prey and predators, but it could be partly also used for navigation (finding familiar landmarks). It is, however, not used as navigation means during the long-distance migration trips by large baleen whales. Echolocation is (as far as we know) not used by these whales - it is used by toothed whales, mostly dolphins. Baleen whales are believed to use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation.
Whale and Dolphin Intelligence
It is really hard to measure intelligence, and human and whale intelligence is not really compareable. While whales cannot count numbers or do the maths (mind you, some dolphins do that too!), we'd be hopeless if we had to create a whale song that means something. That said, both whales and dolphins do have some of the largest brains in all animals. Whale songs (very complicated), the large amount of different sounds of dolphins, complex social systems, and the tricks that dolphins can learn do show a fair amount of intelligence.
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