what is the relationship between barnacles and whales?
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MORE ON THIS: The relationship between these barnacles and humpback whales is an example of commensalism, where one species benefits and the other is unaffected. The barnacle benefits from this relationship because it is provided with a place to live and filter food.
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A mature sperm whale has few natural predators, although calves and weakened adults are sometimes killed by pods of killer whales (orcas).
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The barnacles are just along for the ride. They don't harm the whales or feed on the whales, like true parasites do. Barnacles don't serve any obvious advantage to the whales, but they give helpful lice a place to hang onto the whale without getting washed away by water.
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There are two types of whales: toothed and baleen. Toothed whales, as the name suggests, have teeth, which are used to hunt and eat squid, fish, and seals. Toothed whales include sperm whales, as well as dolphins, porpoises, and orcas, among others.
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The traditional hypothesis of cetacean evolution, first proposed by Van Valen in 1966, was that whales were related to the mesonychids, an extinct order of carnivorous ungulates (hoofed animals) that resembled wolves with hooves and were a sister group of the artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates).
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Cows are more closely related to whales than to pigs, says a genetic study that suggests a new place for whales in the evolutionary family tree. ... That group includes pigs, hippos, camels, cows, deer, giraffes and sheep.
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Dolphins and whales are closely related. Orcas were given the name 'killer whale' by ancient sailors' observations of groups of orcas hunting and preying on larger whale species. They called orcas asesina ballenas, or 'whale killer' – a term that was eventually flipped around to the easier 'killer whale'.
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Beluga whales and bottlenose dolphins are related—they are both cetaceans, meaning they are in the whale family with orcas and narwhals. ... Belugas will imitate people, other animals and other sounds they hear. They are sometimes even called "sea canaries" because of how they sing.
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Whales play a vital role in the marine ecosystem where they help provide at least half of the oxygen you breathe, combat climate change, and sustain fish stocks. ... Different species of whales feed on a range of marine creatures, including krill and fish, in the dark depths of the world's oceans.
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Because of its tooth/tusk, narwhals are considered a “toothed whale” or an odontocete cetacean. ... That's because while males typically have a tooth that grows more prominent over time, most females instead lose them, if they ever developed one at all.
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Although whales are aquatic creatures, spending all their time in the sea, they are indeed mammals, just like us.
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Whales live in all the world's oceans, communicating through complex and beautiful sounds. And they're massive; the blue whale can weigh as much as 200 tons, making it the largest animal on the planet. ... We also help shift shipping lanes to limit noise and other disruptions for whales and other marine species.
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Fish and whales are both vertebrates, which means they both have backbones. They also live in aquatic environments. Except for a couple of species, whales live only in the ocean water.
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Whales are also warm-blooded, meaning that, unlike cold-blooded fish, whose body temperature varies according to their environment, whales regulate their body temperature by means of their metabolism. Whales belong to the zoological order of marine mammals called Cetacea (which also includes dolphins and porpoises).
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About The Species. Pygmy sperm whales are toothed whales named after the waxy substance—spermaceti—found in their heads. The spermaceti is an oil sac that helps the whales produce sound. Like squids, pygmy sperm whales can produce a dark, ink-like liquid that helps them escape from predators.
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According to molecular evidence, the closest living relatives of whales are, quite surprisingly, the artiodactyls, a group of hoofed mammals that includes deer, cows, sheep, pigs, giraffes, camels and hippos.
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Manatees belong to the family, Trichechidae, of the Mammalian Order Sirenia. ... Despite the manatee's aquatic appearance, it is not closely related to whales, dolphins, seals, or sea lions. In fact, their closest relatives are elephants and hyraxes. Like elephants and hyraxes, they are herbivorous.