Sperm whale pod surfacing, Dominica
© Franco Banfi/Minden Picture
Taking a breather. World Whale Day
Ahoy there, giants of the sea! World Whale Day is surfacing yet again, along with these sperm whales off the coast of the Caribbean island of Dominica. Established in 1980 in Maui, the day originally aimed to celebrate the humpback whales in Hawaiian waters and has evolved into a global event advocating for the conservation of all whale species.
The planet's 92 whale species are split between baleen whales and toothed whales. Baleen whales use bristle-like mouth parts to filter krill from the water. The sperm whales pictured here like the other 76-toothed species, use cone-shaped teeth to attack their prey. Unlike baleen whales, they hunt and navigate using echolocation, a method that uses sound to detect the things around them. Sperm whales also happen to have the largest brains of any animal on Earth! A whale's large brain-to-body mass ratio means that their intelligence is no fluke.
Related Images
Walruses near Kvitøya in the Svalbard archipelago, Norway
Dr. Sylvia Earle explores the Great Barrier Reef in a scene from 'Mission Blue'
Green sea turtle with sardines near Playa Grandi Beach, Curaçao
Cefalù on Mediterranean Sea in Sicily, Italy
Manatees in the Ichetucknee River in Florida
Bubbles in the ice of Abraham Lake in Alberta
Sperm whale mother and albino baby swimming off the coast of Portugal
A fin whale in the waters off the Azores
Bing Today Images
