Whale

Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic placental mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. They are the largest mammals, the largest vertebrates, and the largest animals in the world.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, to just the larger ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea. The latter definition is the one followed here. Whales are those cetaceans which are neither dolphins (i.e. members of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidea), nor porpoises. This can lead to some confusion because Orcas ("Killer Whales") and Pilot Whales have "whale" in their name, but they are dolphins for the purpose of classification.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Species: In biology, the most commonly used definition of species was first coined by Ernst Mayr. Species are "groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups" (however, see other definitions of species below)....

Mammals: REDIRECT Mammal...

Order: Order (from Latin ordo "row, rank, series, arrangement", Old French ordre from the Latin accusative, ordinem, attested in English from the 1220s). The word conveys a notion of "a system of parts subject to certain uniform, established ranks or proportions", an idea very central to scholastic thoug...

Whale related Images and Photos (experimental)

Whale	Fail Whale	Blue Whale	Killer Whale
Diving Whale	Whale Wars Mega Set	Humpback Whale	Fail Whale Babydoll
Whale Wars Season 3 DVD	Whale Wars Season 2 DVD	Whale Wars Prop Fouler Hoodie	Whale Wars Splash T-Shirt