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marine science > whales & dolphins > Flashcards

whales & dolphins Flashcards

1
Q

What kingdom are whales and dolphins?

A

animalia

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2
Q

What phylum are whales and dolphins?

A

chordata (backbone)

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3
Q

What class are whales and dolphins?

A

mamalia

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4
Q

What order are whales and dolphins?

A

cetacea

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5
Q

What are the two subcategories of Cetacea?

A

mysticeti, odontoceti

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6
Q

mysticeti

A

baleen

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7
Q

baleen

A

mysticeti

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8
Q

odontoceti

A

toothed

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9
Q

toothed

A

odontoceti

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10
Q

What is the order Cetacea?

A

live, breed, rest, and carry out all of their life functions in the water

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11
Q

migration

A

a pattern of behavior in which animals travel from one habitat to another in search of food, better conditions, or reproductive needs

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12
Q

a pattern of behavior in which animals travel from one habitat to another in search of food, better conditions, or reproductive needs

A

migration

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13
Q

How do cetaceans reduce drag for fast swimming?

A
  • fusiform body
  • paddle-shaped front limbs
  • no external digits or claws
  • tail flattened laterally and bearing horizontal flukes at the tip
  • vestigial ear pinnae
  • hairless body
  • thick subcutaneous blubber layer filled with fat and oil
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14
Q

What is a fusiform body?

A

tapered at both ends

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15
Q

blowhole

A

external nares on top of head

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16
Q

external nares on top of head

A

blowhole

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17
Q

How many blowholes do Odontoceti have?

A

one

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18
Q

How many blowholes do mysticeti have?

A

two

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19
Q

What are common behaviors of whales?

A
  • breaching
  • spy hopping
  • lunge feeding
  • skim feeding
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20
Q

breaching

A

jumping out of the water

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21
Q

jumping out of the water

A

breaching

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22
Q

spyhopping

A

vertically moving head out of water to view surroundings

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23
Q

lunge feeding

A

consuming a large quantity of prey and water after a high speed horizontal or vertical propulsion

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24
Q

vertically moving head out of water to view surroundings

A

spyhopping

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25
Q

consuming a large quantity of prey and water after a high speed horizontal or vertical propulsion

A

lunge feeding

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26
Q

skim feeding

A

swimming through prey on surface with mouth open

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27
Q

swimming through prey on surface with mouth open

A

skim feeding

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28
Q

mysteceti

A

most of the largest cetaceans

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29
Q

most of the largest cetaceans

A

mysteceti

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30
Q

What is the largest animal in history?

A

blue whale

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31
Q

What is the smallest mysticeti?

A

pygmy right whale

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32
Q

What is baleen?

A
  • filter feeding system found in all the mysticeti whales
  • made of keratin
  • range in size from 1-11ft long
33
Q

filter feeding system found in all the mysticeti whales

34
Q

What whale has the longest baleen?

35
Q

How do small cetaceans cope with cold climates?

A
  • have high metabolic rates
  • flippers and flukes have a counter current heat exchange system
  • insulated by thick blubber layer
36
Q

How do small cetaceans have a counter current heat exchange system?

A

heat from arterial blood warms venous blood as it returns to the heart

37
Q

How do large cetaceans cope with cold climates?

A
  • small surface to volume ration
  • lose little heat to the surrounding environment
  • insulated by think blubber layer
38
Q

What physiological adaptations do whales have for deep diving?

A
  • rapid exchange in lungs
  • after blood distribution
  • high tolerance to carbon dioxide and lactic acid build up in tissues
39
Q

How do whales have rapid exchange in the lungs?

A
  • enhanced by double capillary layer in the idntraalveolar septae
  • humans use 4% of oxygen inhaled, Cetacea use 12%
  • twice the number of erythrocytes and myoglobin molecules in their blood, which allows for efficient capture and transport of oxygen
40
Q

How do whales have after blood distribution?

A
  • rate of flow slows down (bradycardia)
  • heart rate slows by as much as 80 beats per minute
  • eliminated at non-critical organs via shunts
  • reserved for critical tissues
41
Q

What are odontocete?

A

largest and most diverse group

42
Q

largest and most diverse group

A

odontocete

43
Q

What is the largest odontocete?

A

sperm whale reaching 60ft

44
Q

What is the largest living predator of warm-blooded animals?

A

killer whale

45
Q

What physiologic problems are there with deep diving?

A
  • increased pressure with increased depth
  • at high pressure gases go into solution more quickly
  • air breathing organisms have a problem with nitrogen gas absorption decompression sickness
46
Q

What structural adaptations do whales have for deep diving?

A
  • lungs are small
  • total amount of air you take in is the same as the total amount of air you let out
  • dead air spaces are large
  • trachea is large and supported by cartilaginous rings
  • ribs are free from sternum
47
Q

What mechanisms do whales have for deep diving?

A
  • total exhalation before diving
  • diving pressure forces collapse of lungs
  • nitrogen is six times more soluble in oils then in water
48
Q

How does the collapse of lungs help with deep diving?

A
  • forces air into dead air spaces, including nasal passages
  • dead air spaces devoid of vascular tissue
49
Q

How is the facts that nitrogen is six times more soluble in oils than in water helpful for deep diving?

A
  • blubber is highly vascular and serves as nitrogen reservoir
  • oil also present in nasal sinus and may absorb nitrogen there as well
50
Q

How many mating seasons are there?

51
Q

How long is the gestation period?

A

10 to 17 months

52
Q

How many calves do females give birth to and how often?

A

one every six years

53
Q

How are calves born?

A

tail first and must swim from the moment of birth

54
Q

How long do mysticetes nurse for?

A

about six months

55
Q

How long do odontocetes nurse for?

A

over two years

56
Q

What is the social behavior?

A

highly sociable within their respective species and often form pods

57
Q

How do pods collaborate?

A

hunting, playing, traveling, and taking care of young

58
Q

How long do they remain in pods?

A

usually remain in pods throughout their life

59
Q

How are pods beneficial?

A

hunting is easier in a group, also pods decrease predation

60
Q

How do they communicate?

A
  • flukes or flippers
  • breaching
  • spyhopping
  • emit various sounds from their heads
61
Q

How do flukes or flippers communicate?

A

slap the surface

62
Q

How does breaching communicate?

A
  • leaping from the waters surface
  • helps them to attain an elevation of several yards
63
Q

How does spy hopping communicate?

A

raising head out of water to investigate objects or potential prey

64
Q

How does emitting various sounds from their heads communicate?

A

these sounds and echolocation help them navigate, invest their surroundings, and hunt

65
Q

What sounds do sperm whales emit?

A

simple clicks

66
Q

What sounds do humpback whales emit?

A

complex “songs”

67
Q

How many orders of mammals use echolocation?

A

four orders

68
Q

What orders of mammals use echolocation?

A
  • order Cetacea
  • order soricomorphia
  • order Carnivora
  • order Chiroptera
69
Q

order cetacea

A

whales, dolphins

70
Q

order sorcimorphia

71
Q

order carnivora

72
Q

order chiroptera

73
Q

What is echolocation in cetacean?

A
  • important means of navigation
  • very well developed in odontocetes
  • very rapid
74
Q

How does very rapid echolocation help cetacean?

A

size, shape, and distance of the object can be determined

75
Q

What is the anatomy of nasal regions in regards to echolocation?

A
  • ducts and diverticula
  • nasal plugs
  • air cycled back and forth
76
Q

How do they hear the return echo?

77
Q

What is the mandible?

A

small thin bone, that allows the animal to hear through the lower jaw in front

78
Q

How and what do mysticetes eat?

A

use their baleen to strain plankton and other tiny organisms

79
Q

What do odontocetes eat?

A
  • feed on fish, squid, and crustaceans
  • larger species eat aquatic birds and mammals

marine science (3 decks)

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