UGEB 3630 EXPLORING THE ENIGMATIC OCEANS

WHALES AND WHALING

Whale shark!
DR. APPLE CHUI
Not a whale! SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES
CUHK
SCE412A; 3943-8026
APPLEPYCHUI@CUHK.EDU.HK
 Class Mammalia

Subclass Prototheria Subclass Eutheria Subclass Metatheria

(Platypus) (Placental Mammals) (Marsupials)

Order Pinnipedia Order Cetacea Order Sirenia Order Carnivora

(Whales)
Family Family Family
Otariidae Phocidae Dugongidae
(Eared seal) (Earless seal) Suborder Suborder
Mysticeti Odontoceti Sea otter
(Baleen whales) (Toothed whales)
Dugong

Family
Trichechidae
Family
Odobenidae
Polar bear

Manatee
Walrus
 Class Mammalia

Subclass Prototheria Subclass Eutheria Subclass Metatheria

(Platypus) (Placental Mammals) (Marsupials)
• All marine •All marine except for five
• Much larger than toothed species of freshwater
whales
Order Pinnipedia Krill, major food Order Cetacea dolphins Order Carnivora
Order Sirenia
• Filter Feeding source (Whales) • All active predators
Use baleen for feeding
• Family Family • Have teeth
Family
(whalebone) Phocidae
Otariidae Skull of Killer Whale
• Baleen
Dugongidae
(Eared seal) plates (“whalebones”)
(Earless seal) Suborder Suborder
Mysticeti Odontoceti Sea otter
Upper jaw, 300- (Baleen whales) (Toothed whales)
400 plates /side
Dugong
Lost masticatory
Familyfunction, serve
to hold prey
• Pleated throat grooves Trichechidae
allow their throat to expand • Eat mostly fish and squid
Family
during the huge intake of (Killer whales eat seals)
Odobenidae
water during filter feeding
Polar bear

Manatee
Walrus
• Double blowhole • Single blowhole
• Most migrate • Most do not migrate
 ORDER CETACEA
Suborder Much larger than Suborder
toothed whales
Mysticeti Odontoceti
(Baleen whales) (toothed whales)

The largest
member of the
dolphin family!
 SUBORDER: ODONTOCETI (Toothed whales)
CHINESE WHITE DOLPHIN
• Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin
• Adult (2.6-2.7 m, pinkish)
• New born (1 m, dark grey)
• Life span up to 40 years
• Diet: fishes
• Possible threats:
• Habitat loss
• Water pollution
• Incidental Entanglement in
fishing gear
• Vessel collision
• Disturbance from dolphin-
watching activities
Find out more at:
http://hk.hkdcs.org/
DID YOU KNOW?
When Chines white dolphins are
swimming, the blood vessels near their
skin dilate to enable more blood flow for heat FINLESS PORPOISE
release, therefore making the dolphins look
pink, similar to flushing in humans • Adult (1.8 m, dark gray)
during exercise. • New born (0.7 m, light gray)
• Life span up to 33 years
• Diet: Fishes, squid, prawns
• Possible threats:
• Habitat degradation
• Water pollution
• Incidental Entanglement in
fishing gear
• Vessel collision
 SUBORDER: ODONTOCETI (Toothed whales)
SPERM WHALE
• The largest toothed whale
• Males (15-18 m), females (11-12 m)
• New born (1 ton, 3.5-4.5 m)
• Life span >70 years
• Diet: Squids (including giant deep-sea squid),
fishes (including sharks), lobsters, etc.
• Most numerous compared to baleen whales
Sucker-mark battle scars
on skin of sperm whale

Lump of sperm whale vomit

set to auction for US$10,000!!
Ambergris is an ingredient
in fine perfumes
SUBORDER: ODONTOCETI (Toothed whales)
SPERM WHALE
 SUBORDER: ODONTOCETI (Toothed whales)
NARWHAL
• “Unicorn of the Sea”
• Enlarged tooth with sensory capability and up to 10 million
nerve endings inside (most common on males)
• Entire lives in the Arctic

© Martin Nweeia
A highly sensitive organ!
REPUTATION VS REALITY
They spear
They are "toothed their food!
whales" so obviously
have teeth in their
mouths.
 SUBORDER: ODONTOCETI (Toothed whales)
NARWHAL
• “Unicorn of the Sea”
• Enlarged tooth with sensory capability and up to 10 million
nerve endings inside (most common on males)
• Entire lives in the Arctic

A highly sensitive organ!

BELUGA WHALE
• “The canary of the sea”
• Distinctive bright white color (camouflage)
• Entire lives in the Arctic
 Class Mammalia

Subclass Prototheria Subclass Eutheria Subclass Metatheria

(Platypus) (Placental Mammals) (Marsupials)
• All marine •All marine except for five
• Much larger than toothed species of freshwater
whales
Order Pinnipedia Order Cetacea dolphins Order Carnivora
Order Sirenia
• Filter Feeding (Whales) • All active predators
Use baleen for feeding
• Family Family • Have teeth
Family
(whalebone) Phocidae
Otariidae Skull of Killer Whale
• Baleen
Dugongidae
(Eared seal) plates (“whalebones”)
(Earless seal) Suborder Suborder
Mysticeti Odontoceti Sea otter
Upper jaw, 300- (Baleen whales) (Toothed whales)
400 plates / side
Dugong
Lost masticatory
Familyfunction, serve
to hold prey
• Throat grooves allow their Trichechidae
throat to expand during the • Eat mostly fish and squid
Family
huge intake of water during (Killer whales eat seals)
Odobenidae
filter feeding
Polar bear

Manatee
Walrus
• Double blowhole • Single blowhole
• Most migrate • Most do not migrate
SUBORDER: MYSTICETI (Toothless whales) Throat grooves allow the throat
to expand during the hug intake of
water during filter feeding

Inner edge of baleen plate:

Hair-like bristles overlap and
form a dense mat.
baleen plate
 SUBORDER: MYSTICETI (Toothless whales)
Flick feeding
HUMPBACK WHALE Slap tails on
water surface
• Adult (15-19m), New born (1-2 tons, 4m)

• Life span ~80 years

Lunge feeding
• Eats up to 1,361 kg a day lunge forward
• Diverse feeding techniques pleats open

Bubble-netting
blow bubble net and
swim up

Air Curtain produced

by the whale to
restrain prey
SUBORDER: MYSTICETI (Toothless whales)
HUMPBACK WHALE
 Migrate from feeding ground to breeding grounds
• Summer – feeding grounds in Arctic for krill
• Winter – breeding and calving grounds in tropical
eastern Pacific

We migrate!

Other examples: Blue, gray, right, fin whales

 SUBORDER: MYSTICETI (Toothless whales)
BLUE WHALE

© PHOTOGRAPH BY HIROYA MINAKUCHI, MINDEN PICTURES/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

• One of the largest animal ever have lived
on earth
• Adult (100-120 tons, length 24-27 m);
Biggest ever measured was 33.6m
• New born (2.5-4 tons, length 7-8 m)

• Life span
• 60 years
• Eats up to 3,629 kg a day
• One of the rarest of the whales
• Approximately 10,000-25,000
• Global distribution
 SUBORDER: MYSTICETI (Toothless whales)
BOWHEAD WHALE
• Second largest whale by weight
• Adult (60-100 tons, length 14-20 m)
• New born (4-4.5 m)
• The longest life span among mammals
• >100 years (up to 200 years)
• One of the rarest of the whales
• Approximately 10,000
• Entire lives in the Arctic

• Were driven to
the edge of
extinction a
century ago
 WHALES: ADAPTATIONS TO MARINE LIFE

T UR ES
O G IC AL FEA
O L
M ORPH How marine
RESPI
RATIO mammals can dive so
N deep and stay under
water so long?

How toothed whales

use echolocation to
find their prey?
DIVING

SENSING
THE ENV
IRONME
NT
 WHALES: ADAPTATIONS TO MARINE LIFE
MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES
Whale shark!
Not a whale!

Streamlined body, Smooth body surface, loss of hair Blowhole on top

Flukes Rear limbs disappeared

Short humerus
(2) Humerus, (3) Ulna, (4) Radius
(Left-Right) Pilot Whale, Blue Whale, Right Whale

Thick blubber (a layer of fat) Front flippers Hyperphalangy

 WHALES: ADAPTATIONS TO MARINE LIFE
RESPIRATION
• Blowhole (nostrils ) on top and
directed backwards
• Breath even though most of the body is underwater
• Eat and swallow without drowning
• Nostril valves
• Close the nostrils when diving
• Elastic and extensible lungs, quickly
filled at surface by rapid ventilation

High gas exchange rate

90% of oxygen exchange Closed blowholes
(20% in human)
 WHALES: ADAPTATIONS TO MARINE LIFE
DIVING
I can stay underwater for
almost two hours! I am the world
championship diver!!

INCREASE OXYGEN SUPPLY REDUCE OXYGEN CONSUMPTION

• Increase oxygen stores • Bradycardia ( )
• Blood volume proportionally higher • Slow heartbeat rate when diving
(10-20% body mass vs 7% in human), • Shunting of blood to essential organs
higher concentration of red blood cells, red blood cells • e.g. brain, heart
carry more hemoglobin
• Blood flow to "non-essential" organs is reduced
• Greater concentration of myoglobin in muscle (muscles
• e.g. stomach, kidney, muscles
can store a lot of oxygen)

By proportion, lungs are not larger

than any other terrestrial mammal but
diving times can be extended for 2
hours in large whales! How a whale
can stay underwater for so long?
 WHALES: ADAPTATIONS TO MARINE LIFE
DIVING
CAISSON SICKNESS Do whales get
“caisson sickness” or
Caused by formation of gas bubbles in the blood stream “bends”?
when pressure is reduced during surfacing

• Rib cage flexible & lungs collapsible

• during dives air is displaced into bronchial and Reduce diffusion
tracheal dead spaces where no blood vessels present of nitrogen into
• High concentration of myoglobin and hemoglobin store blood stream!
oxygen needed in the blood and muscles, less air is
needed in the lungs.
 WHALES: ADAPTATIONS TO MARINE LIFE
SENSING THE ENVIRONMENT
¨ Vision varies with species
¤ Even in clear water, toothed whales cannot ü Low frequency clicks
Surrounding topography
see much farther than 30 meters §

ü Higher frequency clicks

¨ Sound § Discriminate more detail and locate nearby prey
¤ Social vocalization for communication
n E.g. Song of whales, dolphin whistles (low frequency sound)
Melon as a
¤ Echolocation based on hearing focusing and
n Toothed whales, and some baleen whales directing device
Sound produced
n To find food, avoid obstacles, etc. in air sac Emitting sound waves
(sound waves travel about 5 times
faster in water than in air)
Analyzed by
the brain

Sound reached
inner ears and to
brain via nerve

Returned sound picked up by

oil-filled cavities in lower jaw
 WHALING
An old tradition with a rich history

SPERM WHALE

Early whalers thought it to be an enormous reserve of

semen and named it spermaceti .
sperma, sperm (“seed”), and ceti, “of a whale”
– Latin –
 A BRIEF HISTORY OF WHALING
Stone Age people (6000 B.C.) Find out more at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3638853.stm

11th -mid 19th Centuries WHALING BEGINS

(1059 - 1860)
• Whale oil begins to be used for lights, baleen for corsets
and combs.
• Whales were harpooned
from small open boats.
• Whaling is confined to coastal areas. Grey whale Right whale

mid 19th - early 20th Centuries WHALING INDUSTRY FLOURISHES

1870
• Technological advances, including grenade
harpoons and factory ships, usher in era of
modern whaling.
 WHY WERE WHALES KILLED?
OIL
MEAT TOOTH
• Main product made from the whales in
the whaling industry of 19th century. Fertilizer, dog food, animal feed, only eaten in
• Lamp fuels, soap, shampoo, detergent, countries such as Iceland, Norway, Korea and Japan.
cooking fat, candle, lubricants…etc.

BALEEN
Umbrella ribs, brushes, fishing
rods, fans, corsets, crinolines…etc.

corset crinoline
1930s -1940s WHALING TRANSITIONS FROM GLOCAL ENTERPRISE TO GLOCAL CONCERN

1930:
• 80% of whale species thought to be close
to extinction
1939-1945:
• WWII
1946:
• International Whaling Commission
(IWC) established to
monitor and regulate global whale stocks.
• 15 whaling countries
• Schedule: regulates global catch quotas;
length of whaling season; partial © Mitsuaki Iwago/Minden Pictures

moratoriums
• Members can lodge and objection to
amendments in the Schedule and thereby
not be bound by these amendments
Find out more at:
https://iwc.int/home
International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
(1946)
“to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks
and thus make possible the orderly development of the
whaling industry …”
1970s -present NATIONS ABANDON WHALING COZ OF THE EXPENSE & ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
1976:
• IWC establishes the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary

1982:
• IWC establishes a moratorium on commercial whaling
; moratorium goes into effect in 1986

COMMERCIAL WHALING MORATORIUM

• Adopted in 1982; effective since 1986
• Aboriginal subsistence whaling allowed: US,
Russia, Greenland, St. Vincent & Grenadines
• Whaling for scientific research allowed

1989:
• All nations agree to stop whaling except Norway &
Japan
1994:
• IWC establishes Southern Whale Sanctuary
in Antarctica
WHALES KILLED BY WHALING SINCE MORATORIUM

31,984 have been killed by

whaling since the IWC moratorium
Commercial whaling was banned in 1986 under the IWC's moratorium.
However Iceland and Norway lodged official objections to the moratorium
and have continued a commercial hunt. Japan and Iceland have also
continued to hunt whales under the guise of "scientific whaling".

© WWF © WWF
 LOOPHOLES OF MORATORIUM
• Voluntary basis
• Commercial whaling done in the name of
“scientific research”
• Japan and Iceland
• Japan also hunts minke whales in the
Antarctica for “scientific purposes” (despite
the Southern Ocean is declared as a whale
sanctuary by IWC)
• Abuses of aboriginal whaling
• Recognizes the rights of certain aboriginal
peoples to hunt a limited number of whales to
meet nutritional and cultural needs.
• Use spotter planes, motorized boats
and exploding harpoons instead of
traditional methods
• Endangered species are being hunted
• Non-aboriginal butcher hired
• Whale meat sold to non-aboriginal
people
• Whale bone and baleen are carved to Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling
make souvenirs for tourists
© AP Photo/Gregory Bull
 DOWNSIDES OF WHALING

• Pushing endangered species to extinction

• Impacts on tourism
• Whales are taken in a key whale watching areas in Iceland (lost of income from tourism)
• In Iceland only a small domestic market for the meat
• Health issues
• Cetacean meat in Japanese markets are contaminated with heavy metals such as mercury
• Minke whales may be host of Brucella bacteria which might lead to brucellosis
• Humane/ welfare issues Find out more about brucellosis at:
• Hunted whales might took a long time to die in some cases http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/h
ealth/brucella_infection.pdf
http://www.chp.gov.hk/en/content/9/
24/23446.html