Whales vs Dolphins
The oceans are inhabited by various kinds of animals and plants, such as fish, cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises), cephalopods (octopus and squid), crustaceans (lobsters, clams, shrimp and krill), planktons, starfish, Jelly fish etc. The largest In bulk Is the cetacean order. Although whales and dolphins have different outer appearance they belong to the same order and share many similarities. First of all, they are both mammals and share similar characteristics of the anatomy.
They have similar vital organs and skeleton, and they breathe and eproduce in the same way. If we scrutinize (take under scrutiny) their way of breathing, we can see that both of them breathe through blow holes which are nasal openings on top of their head. Both breathe with lungs which make them different from the class of fish. Moreover, they reproduce in the same way – by giving birth to a live young which is nourished with milk by its mothers. 80th have one calf at a time and their gestation period ranges from 9 to 18 months.
The calves are born tall first to minimize the risk of drowning. Then the calf Is lifted by Its mother to the surface so that It takes Its first breath. Nursing continues for more than a year. Secondly, we can spot many similarltles regarding their social behavior, vocalization and sleeping methods. Whales and dolphins live In plods which are groups of either whales or dolphins respectively. Members of the pod protect each other, feed and migrate together. The number of pods members may vary from 2 to 50. Additionally, they communicate between each other by emitting sounds i. . by vocalization. There use dfferent sounds for different purposes. Generally, these sounds are used for communication, attracting mates and localizing pray i. e. echolocation. What is more, they display similar behavior when it comes down to their sleeping methods. They are both conscious breathers and thus they cannot afford to be unconscious while sleeping because that may lead to drowning. Hence only one hemisphere of their brain sleeps at a time, so they rest but are never completely asleep. Thirdly, they are considered to have high Intelligence and emotional empathy.
Both are highly social beings and they have a complex form of communication with each other which can be defined as language. They cooperate with each other, teach, learn and even grieve. They are very protective of each other and will defend their family and pod from any potential threats. Moreover, they are able to sympathies not only with their relatives but also with other animals in need. Their possession of spindle cells indicates a possibility of high intelligence. Spindle cells are also found in humans, apes and elephants.
Scientists find them to have an important role in any cognitive abilities and disabilities ranging from great perceptiveness and perfect pitch to autism and dyslexia. What Is more, in self-awareness experiments they can Identify their reflections in a mirror. To sum up, despite their different physical appearance they are strikingly slmllar. They belong to the same cetacean order and thus share many traits regarding their are compassionate, sociable animals which treat their families in a similar way we do. They are fascinating creatures and I believe that there is even more to surprise us if we explore them further.
