Portal:Cetaceans/Did you know/January, 2007




 * ...the Orca, is the fastest swimmer of all the cetaceans and can reach speeds of more than 50km/h while hunting.


 * ...some cetaceans can dive to depths of more than a kilometre and stay there for more than an hour.


 * ...newborn cetacean calves do not have the skills to swim for long periods or to accelerate away from danger, so they swim in the slipstream of their mothers, enabling the mother to protect her calf.


 * ...all cetaceans have a blubber layer — a layer of fat under the skin. In most dolphins, this layer is about one quarter to one third of the total body weight, but in southern right whales nearly half of its weight (up to 50 tons) will be blubber.


 * ...most whales and dolphins live long lives. Wild bottlenose dolphins live well into their forties, while some of the larger whales live in excess of 80 years!