Favorite Images of Dolphins & Whales

A list of my favorite images of dolphins and whales.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin

Dolphins are cetacean mammals closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera.

They vary in size from 1.2 m (4 ft) and 40 kg (90 lb) (Maui's dolphin), up to 9.5 m (30 ft) and 10 tonnes (9.8 long tons; 11 short tons) (the orca or killer whale).

They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves and are carnivores, eating mostly fish and squid.

The family Delphinidae, the largest in the order Cetacea, evolved relatively recently, about ten million years ago during the Miocene.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale

Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to the suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales).

This suborder includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga whale. The other Cetacean suborder, Mysticeti (baleen whales), comprises filter feeders that eat small organisms caught by straining seawater through a comblike structure found in the mouth called baleen.

This suborder includes the blue whale, the humpback whale, the bowhead whale and the minke whale. All cetaceans have forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with horizontal flukes, and nasal openings (blowholes) on top of the head.

Whales range in size from the blue whale, the largest animal known to have ever existed at 30 m (98 ft) and 180 tonnes (180 long tons; 200 short tons), to pygmy species such as the pygmy sperm whale at 3.5 m (11 ft).

Whales inhabit all the world's oceans and number in the millions, with annual population growth rate estimates for various species ranging from 3% to 13%. Whales are long-lived, humpback whales living for up to 77 years, while bowhead whales may live for over a century.

Human hunting of whales from the 17th century until 1986 radically reduced the populations of some whale species.

Whales play a role in creation myths, for example among the Inuit, and are revered by coastal people in countries such as Ghana and Vietnam.