The Greenland whale settled in the Northern Hemisphere, in the area of the earth pole. Therefore, it is called the polar. And the name of the mustachioed was fixed behind the Greenland whale. The reason is the presence of a huge mouth, in which there are three hundred plate of a mustache reaching a length of 3-4.5 meters.
Description
The Greenland whale is inferior in its weight to the largest blue whale and Finval. The maximum mass of an adult polar whale can reach up to 150,000 kilograms. Kit is able to dive to a depth of 3,500 meters and be in the water thickness until forty minutes.
Though the whale and polar, the temperature of its body is 36-40 degrees. During movement, it develops speed within 20 kilometers per hour.
Features of appearance
The body of the Greenland whale has a streamlined shape. The body length of females can be from 18 to 22 meters, and males smaller. They have a length of 14-17 meters. The polar whale does not have a fin on the back. Poils are located on the sides. They have small sizes compared to the body, their length is about 2 meters. There is a thick layer of fat deposits under the skin, their thickness is almost 60 centimeters.
The dark gray torso differs sharply in color from the lower jaw. The jaw is light and has an arched shape. In general, the jaws of the Greenland whale are very large: the lower is slightly advanced forward and much smaller than the upper. On the lower jaw are long mustaches, serving the tactile organs. The mouth is located in the upper head.
The head is large: in size takes a third part of the entire body. Between the head and the body there is a gap similar to the neck. In the parietal part of the whale there are two small brushes that serve as nostrils. Through them, the whale produces water fountains with great power. She is able to break through ice 30 centimeters thick.
The eyes of the Greenland whale are small. They are located next to the corners of the oral cavity and are covered with thick horn formation. Vision is very weak. Although the whale has no ear shells, he hears well an inner ear. It perfectly captures different sounds, including ultrasound. Due to this, the whale is well oriented in water.
Life expectancy
Greenland whale can be attributed to the category of centenarians. Based on the studies of the eyeballs of the whales that were killed on the hunt, scientists established their age. It turned out that Greenland whales can live for more than a hundred years. Such individuals were found that had stone harpoons in the body. According to experts, some of them were about 200 years old.
Habitat
Currently, Greenland whales live in polar waters. There was a time when they swam through all the waters of the northern hemisphere of the Earth. Over the past hundred years, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of polar whales. It is estimated that in the North Atlantic there are within a thousand individuals, and in the north of the Pacific Ocean there are about 7,000 animals.
Greenland whales migrate, moving away from ice floes, and do not swim to places that have a temperature less than45 degrees. In the spring, the whales float to the north, and in the fall go to the south. The southern herds swim to the Sea of Okhotsk.
Food
The diet of the polar whale includes crustaceans, mollusks, plankton. Animal, while drifting in water, holds his mouth open. The whale swallows a large volume of water and filters it. Filtering proceeds within a minute. Plankton and crustaceans remain on the plate of a mustache. Keith relieves food and swallows it. So in just one minute almost 50,000 marine inhabitants falls into his body.
The adult polar whale for saturation must be consumed approximately 2,000 kg of plankton. By the autumn season, the animal gains a lot of fat. It is necessary in order to save life in the winter period.
Life and characteristic features
The constant migration of whales determines their lifestyle. During migration, polar whales are built into jambs and move in a given direction. In the summer north, and in winter to the southern zone.
During migration processes, whales are divided into flocks of three categories: young, ripening young and mature individuals. When the flock arrives in place, it breaks up. Some animals are combined into small flocks, and there are those that swim separately.
Polar whales love to dive and jump out of water thickness. Patting with fins and taking a vertical position, they make a jump up. Когда во время прыжка всплывёт большая часть тела с головой, кит резко поворачивается боком и ныряет в воду. The immersion depth is two hundred meters. Games associated with diving are usually in the spring time. And young whales play with any objects found in the water.
During sleep, the whales are first on the surface of the water, and then gradually plunged into the water. When the immersion occurs to a certain depth, the animal makes a sharp movement with its huge tail and again rises to the surface.
Greenland whales are hidden from predators under the ice. They make holes in the thickness of the ice for air flow and can stay there for a long time.
Reproduction
Greenland whales mate in the spring. After that, migration begins. Puberty in males occurs to the 20 years of life, and in females two years earlier.
During the wedding period, males use the following methods:
The period of pregnancy in females lasts 12-16 months. Cubs are born during April-June. The body length of newborn about five meters with a fat layer of about 15 centimeters. This is necessary for a kitska to survive in ice water.
After being born, the female immediately pushes the cub to the surface of the water. On the first day, the baby eats more than a hundred liters of milk. The female feeds the descendant for a whole year. During this time, the whale grows up to fifteen meters, and its weight becomes about 60 tons.
For another two years after breastfeeding, the cub is near the mother. The female constantly takes care of it, teaches to make food on its own and protects from the attack of predators.
Population today
For millennia, people have hunted whales. By the beginning of the 20th century, the extermination of Greenland whales reached colossal sizes, and they were in the category of an endangered species.
Forbidden to extract the Greenland whale back in 1935. In the seventies of the last century, he was listed in the Red Book as an endangered look. The population is in the stage of extinction. A herd of Greenland whales in the Bering-Chukotsky district was attributed to the rarity of the 3rd category.
Scientists determined that only 11,000 Greenland whales are left today.
Kita enemies and his protection
The enemies of the polar whale are killer whales. They attack the whale with a large flock, in which there are up to forty individuals. But the main and merciless enemies of polar whales are people. They constantly exterminate these animals.
Killed enemy of the Greenland whale
To preserve the population, a partial ban on hunting has been introduced. Eskimos and Chukchi can kill the whale once every two years. Polar whales need protection. The population growth occurs slowly. The female can give birth to a cub once for three to seven years. If the extermination of the Greenland whales continues, then this type of animal may disappear on Earth.
