cetacea

Question 1

fully adapted to aquatic life, includes largest living or fossil mammals, great swimming and diving, complex social behaviors feed at the middle or top of the marine food web, sister group to hippos, fusiform body, nearly hairless, thick layer of blubber, teats enclosed in slits and testes remain abdominal, vertebrae have high neural arches, cervical vertebrae compressed and clavicle absent, digits long with additional phalanges, vestigial hind limbs, horizontal flukes, highly modified skull, echolocation

Answer 1

order cetacea

Question 2

able to alternate between periods of eupnea and apnea; suspended breathing, rapid rates of gas exchange in lungs, double the number of red blood cells, 2-9x as much myoglobin, blood bypasses certain muscles during diving going straight to the brain. tolerate high levels of lactic acid buildup

Answer 2

cetacean air breathing adaptations

Question 3

ribs lack connection to the sternum, collapsable lungs dorsal to the diaphragm, high volume of non vascular air space, short trachea large in diameter, bronchioles braced by cartilage rings, highly elastic lungs

Answer 3

cetacean deep diving adaptations

Question 4

spring ligaments in tail release elastic energy allowing the tail to bounce back, reduced drag on body surface, larger body mass increases speed

Answer 4

cetacean swimming adaptations

Question 5

baleen whales, found in all oceans, populations decimated by whaling, 3 distinct feeding modes

Answer 5

order cetacea
suborder mysticeti

Question 6

baleen whale feeding methods

Answer 6

grazing, lunge feeding, plowing

Question 7

large thick bodied whales, huge head and tongue, 350 long baleen plates per side, short and rounded flippers

Answer 7

order cetacea
suborder mysticeti
family balaenidae (right and bowhead whales)

Question 8

wide range of sizes, short baleen plates, longitudinal furrows on throat aid in lunge and plow feeding, may migrate long distances

Answer 8

order cetacea
suborder mysticeti
family balaenopteridae (minke and blue whales)

Question 9

1 species, parts of north pacific, migrate up to 22,000 kilometers, have baleen

Answer 9

order cetacea
suborder mysticeti
family eschrichtiidae (gray whale)

Question 10

1 species, southern hemisphere, only 5-6 meters, slender body, only whale with a dorsal fin, poorly researched

Answer 10

order cetacea
suborder mysticeti
family neobalaenidae (pygmy right whale)

Question 11

toothed whales, porpoises and dolphins, all oceans and seas, some rivers, homodont teeth and piston like tongue used to capture prey, some may acoustically stun prey

Answer 11

suborder odontoceti

Question 12

all oceans and some large rivers, fatty deposit “melon” sits above and behind snout, variable coloration, varying numbers of teeth rapid swimmers and regular leapers, form schools, highly vocal, highly intelligent with complex social systems

Answer 12

order cetacea
suborder odontoceti
family delphinidae

Question 13

artic oceans, 2 species, one with a single 2 meter spirally grooved tusk, one with a large melon

Answer 13

order cetacea
suborder odontoceti
family monodontidae (narwhal and beluga)

Question 14

small cetaceans in large groups, short jaw and no beak, form schools

Answer 14

order cetacea
suborder odontoceti
family phocoenidae (porpoises)

Question 15

huge blunt head, rostrum contains oil sacs important to the whaling industry, social groups up to 1000 whales typically containing one male, use powerful echolocation signals at great depth, feed on large squid and fish

Answer 15

order cetacea
suborder odontoceti
family physeteridae (sperm whales)

Question 16

ganges river and indus river, long snout, reduced eyes, highly value echolocation, tend to swim on their sides

Answer 16

order cetacea
suborder odontoceti
family platanistidae (river dolphins)

Question 17

all oceans but highly secretive, long and narrow snout, slender bodies, single tooth on each side in some species, 4-14 chambered stomach, deep divers submerged for long periods, most species social

Answer 17

order cetacea
suborder odontoceti
family ziphiidae (beaked whales)