Facts About Whales That Will Enable You To Impersonate A Marine Biologist As Long As You Refuse To Speak To Anyone Over 6

Eating Whale Tails does not make you a marine biologist. Memorize these facts about whales to satisfy your own curiosity and avoid any embarrassing social gaffes in case you get to talk with a real scientist.

• Whales with no teeth are called baleen whales. Whales with teeth are called toothed whales. Not everything is complicated.
• Blowholes are nostrils. They’re located on top of a whale’s head and provide air to the lungs. Some whales can stay deep under water for an hour or longer before they need to get more air.
• A vapor spout over a whale means they’re breathing out. That fountain is a mix of gas and condensed water.
• Blubber is a layer of fat under the skin of a whale. It provides energy and insulation. If your doctor has told you that you need to lose weight, these arguments will not be persuasive.
• Dolphins and porpoises are whales too. Flipper from TV was a bottlenose dolphin.
• Blue whales are the largest at 100 feet or more, which is about one-third of a football field. Porpoises are the smallest at only four feet.
• Mother whales are called cows. Newborn whales are called calves. Gestation time varies by species. Sperm whale pregnancies can last for 19 months. The average is 9 to 15 months, and many whales nurse for more than one year.
• Moby Dick was a sperm whale, the largest species of toothed whales. Their huge snouts contain close to a ton of oil.
• Different species have very different life spans. Some scientists believe that bowhead whales can live for as long as 200 years. Most species average about 20 to 40 years.

This should be enough whale trivia to impress small children. If one of them catches you using the same fake Latin term to refer to both a dolphin and your carburetor, contact us for an extra bag of Whale Tails to bribe them into silence.