Whales

      Whales are the largest animals on earth. Bigger than elephants, they may grow 95 feet long, and weigh 150 tons. A baby blue whale, just born, can be 23 feet long and weigh 3 tons.

      Although whales live in the oceans and swim like fish, they are mammals, like cows and elephants. Unlike fish they bear young alive, not as eggs. Their babies live on their mother's milk. They breathe through their lungs and hold their breath when they go under water, If they cannot come to the surface to breathe fresh air, they will drown. They are warm-blooded. Fish, however, lay eggs, breathe oxygen in the water, and are cold-blooded.

       Whales Live in all   the oceans. In the winter some of them go to warm waters to breed and in the summer most of them go to cold waters to feed. There are two kinds of whales, whales with teeth (toothed whales)and whales without teeth (baleen whales). The toothed whales eat fish and squid, which they can .catch with their teeth, although they swallow their food without chewing it. The baleen whales eat plankton (small sea animals and plants). When they find plankton, they open their mouths and swim into the plankton. When they close their mouths they squeeze out the water and swallow the plankton.

       Whales have few enemies. Only human beings and the killer whales attack whales. And whales do not seem to fight among themselves. They usually live from 20 to 30 years.