The Whale is a large, magnificent, intelligent and aquatic mammal. They breath from a hole on top of their head called a blowhole, into their lungs. The whale has a very smooth skin that covers their very streamlined body that moves easily through the water. They are the only mammal that has adapted to life in the open oceans.
Whales are considered to be "cetaceans � which means various aquatic life chiefly marine mammals of the order cetacean, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, characterized by a nearly hairless body, broad flippers and a flat notched tail. There are 75 species of Cetaceans, but the two groups are toothed whales and baleen whales. Toothed whales are predators that use their peg-like teeth to catch fish, squid and marine mammals. They swallow them whole. They have one blow hole and use echolocation to hunt. Echolocation is a high pitched sound sent out by the whale. It bounces off the object and then returns to the whale. This tells the whales the shape, direction, distance and texture of the object.