How does a baleen whale feed?

It takes in mouthfuls of water and strains small animals out through fringed plates

It grips fish with rows of backward-pointing teeth

It sucks prey off the sea floor through a long tube-like snout

It stuns prey with bursts of sound before swallowing them whole

The spermaceti organ in a sperm whale's head is now thought to be mainly involved in what?

Producing and focusing the loud clicks it uses to find prey

Storing extra oxygen for long dives

Filtering salt out of the seawater it swallows

Insulating the brain against cold at depth

How do dolphins sleep?

One half of the brain rests at a time while the other half stays alert

They sleep fully for a few minutes at a time resting on the sea floor

They do not sleep at any point in their lives

They sleep only while being carried along by a strong current

What distinguishes porpoises from dolphins?

A blunt head with no beak and flattened, spade-shaped teeth

A longer beak and sharply cone-shaped teeth

Baleen plates in place of teeth

A pair of blowholes rather than one

Grey whales make one of the longest migrations of any mammal, travelling between which two regions?

Arctic feeding grounds and the lagoons of Baja California

The North Atlantic and the Mediterranean

Antarctic waters and the coast of Chile

The Bering Sea and the islands of Hawaii

Whales and dolphins are most closely related to which group of living animals?

Hippopotamuses and other even-toed hoofed mammals

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Oceans & Marine Life Easy ⚡ 10 Questions ⏱️ ~6 Mins +100 XP

Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises

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Whales and dolphins are land animals that returned to the sea and had to solve every problem again from scratch. These ten questions cover how they feed, breathe and communicate.

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About this topic

Cetaceans are mammals, which means every one of them has to surface to breathe, give birth in the water and keep warm without any help from the sea around it. Almost everything odd about them follows from that: the blowhole moved to the top of the head, the forelimbs became flippers, and a thick layer of blubber took over from fur. This quiz splits roughly along the line that divides the group in two — the baleen whales that filter small prey in bulk, and the toothed whales, dolphins and porpoises that hunt individual animals using sound. Knowing which side a species falls on answers a surprising number of the questions.

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Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises: all 10 questions and answers

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1How does a baleen whale feed?
- A It grips fish with rows of backward-pointing teeth
- B It sucks prey off the sea floor through a long tube-like snout
- C It stuns prey with bursts of sound before swallowing them whole
- D It takes in mouthfuls of water and strains small animals out through fringed plates Correct
Answer: D. It takes in mouthfuls of water and strains small animals out through fringed plates

Why: Baleen plates hang from the upper jaw and act as a sieve, letting the whale live on animals a tiny fraction of its own size. The plates are made of keratin, the same material as fingernails and hair.
2Which whale carries a long, spiralled tusk?
- A The minke whale
- B The pilot whale
- C The narwhal Correct
- D The beluga
Answer: C. The narwhal

Why: The tusk is an overgrown left canine tooth that grows straight through the animal's upper lip, usually in males. Traded as unicorn horn in medieval Europe, it turns out to be packed with nerve endings.
3Among humpback whales, which animals produce the long, structured songs the species is known for?
- A Males and females equally
- B Only the males Correct
- C Only the females
- D Only calves under a year old
Answer: B. Only the males

Why: A song can run for twenty minutes and be repeated for hours at a stretch. Every male in a population sings the same version, and that version drifts and changes over the course of a season.
4How many blowholes does a blue whale have?
- A Two Correct
- B One
- C Three
- D Four
Answer: A. Two

Why: All baleen whales have paired blowholes, which is why their blow often looks like a broad V from a distance. Toothed whales, including dolphins and the sperm whale, have only one.
5Which of these whales hunts squid on very deep dives?
- A The humpback whale
- B The grey whale
- C The right whale
- D The sperm whale Correct
Answer: D. The sperm whale

Why: Sperm whales routinely work well below 1,000 metres and can stay under for around an hour. They also have the largest brain of any animal that has ever been measured.
6The spermaceti organ in a sperm whale's head is now thought to be mainly involved in what?
- A Filtering salt out of the seawater it swallows
- B Insulating the brain against cold at depth
- C Producing and focusing the loud clicks it uses to find prey Correct
- D Storing extra oxygen for long dives
Answer: C. Producing and focusing the loud clicks it uses to find prey

Why: The organ holds a waxy oil that helps shape the animal's clicks into a narrow, powerful beam. Whalers hunted the species almost entirely for that oil, which burned cleanly in lamps and candles.
7How do dolphins sleep?
- A They sleep only while being carried along by a strong current
- B One half of the brain rests at a time while the other half stays alert Correct
- C They sleep fully for a few minutes at a time resting on the sea floor
- D They do not sleep at any point in their lives
Answer: B. One half of the brain rests at a time while the other half stays alert

Why: Breathing in a dolphin is a conscious act rather than an automatic one, so shutting down the whole brain would drown it. A sleeping dolphin usually keeps the eye opposite the resting half of its brain closed.
8What distinguishes porpoises from dolphins?
- A A blunt head with no beak and flattened, spade-shaped teeth Correct
- B A longer beak and sharply cone-shaped teeth
- C Baleen plates in place of teeth
- D A pair of blowholes rather than one
Answer: A. A blunt head with no beak and flattened, spade-shaped teeth

Why: Porpoises are generally smaller, stockier and far less inclined to approach boats. There are only around seven porpoise species against roughly forty of dolphins.
9Grey whales make one of the longest migrations of any mammal, travelling between which two regions?
- A The North Atlantic and the Mediterranean
- B Antarctic waters and the coast of Chile
- C The Bering Sea and the islands of Hawaii
- D Arctic feeding grounds and the lagoons of Baja California Correct
Answer: D. Arctic feeding grounds and the lagoons of Baja California

Why: The round trip runs to something like 16,000 kilometres a year along the Pacific coast of North America. Greys also feed unusually for baleen whales, rolling onto one side and sieving mouthfuls of sea-floor mud.
10Whales and dolphins are most closely related to which group of living animals?
- A Bears
- B Elephants and their relatives
- C Hippopotamuses and other even-toed hoofed mammals Correct
- D Seals, sea lions and walruses
Answer: C. Hippopotamuses and other even-toed hoofed mammals

Why: Genetic work places cetaceans firmly inside the even-toed ungulates, with hippos as their nearest living relatives. Early whale fossils back this up, preserving distinctive ankle bones shared with that group.

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