from wolf to whale

FROM WOLF TO WHALE

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Writer, Illustrator and EditorEster Amigo Sanchez

FROM WOLF TO WHALE

INDEX

Evolution History

Overview

Fossil Evidence

Hip Importance

Species Variation

Taxonomy

Genus Variation

Hunting Statistics, Explanation

Species List

Species Specifics

Size Comparison

Stories

Winter the Dolphin

Luna the Orca

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INTRODUCTIONThis book is inspired by the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘In Our Time’ aired on Thursday 21st of May 2009, titled The Whale - a hisTory. Nevertheless, the programme was only the starting point to this book which takes the topic a lot further. Interestingly, whales and their cousins the dolphins are very popular animals yet our knowledge of them is very limited due to the difficulty of studying them in their natural environment. All the data given in this book is sourced from updated sources, but these are likely to be under constant upgrade with new discoveries.

While researching for material for this book I came to realise that just because we live in completely different mediums does not mean we do not have shocking similarities in anatomy, intelligence and social behaviour. Humans seem to enjoy thinking of themselves as unique or on another level to other animals, possibly creating that distance has helped soothe our conscience to the destruction we have caused.

It is my desire that this book is an eye opener to the incredible journey the evolution and development whales have had and how they are now some of the most majestic creatures living peacefully in this planet.

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The miracle of lifeThis is a brief overview of the key changes and steps in the evolution of whales, starting fifty million years ago and ending today.

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hales are descendants of early wolves. Fossil evidence suggests that some ancestral mammals had once left the ocean starting returning for food.

The initial four limbs probably caused clumsy dog-like swimming. Yet during the course of several thousand years gradually the hind legs disappear and the arms take a paddle shape.

It is likely that once mothers began to give birth underwater, coming out to the surface was unnecessary making limbs a burden.

Furthermore, their lungs became larger and much more efficient than humans posses to reduce number of breaths and allow the animal to dive longer and deeper.

Hearing apparatus shrank and thus current water mammals barely have a sense of balance. Swimming involves quick changes of direction which would send false information to the brain, having the effect of dizziness. With this less sensitive eardrum animals are allowed to make fast movements in all directions without loosing the sense of direction.

Lastly, offspring are born tail first, to give the newborn extra time to be able to swim to the surface and take their first breath.

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Fossil EvolutionReview of fossil evidence that shows the skeletal evolution of whales. Each fossil is a different species that developed from the predecessor. Each sketch is the most complete fossil found. Keep in mind that in evolution, scientific denomination of one to species to the next is abstract, the change from one to another is always gradual, never creating a clear step from one to the next.

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Pakicetus48.5million years ago. found in Pakistan. 17metres long. wolf-like mammal.skull shape shows came in/out of ocean.left water to rest and give birth.short but strong limbs.short tail, butflatter and more muscular tail.sharks and crocodiles at the time were much larger than it.likely it hunted by waiting, strategic because it would have been to slow a swimming to chase or hunt fish.

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ambulocetus47million years ago4 metres longlooked like a mixture of a giant furry crocodile or an otter.walkedweak, long tailawkward walker but couldprobably started having webbed toes for better swimming.probably still hunted by ambushing and then drowning the prey.probably first to develop modern whale auditory system of hearing through jaw.

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rodhecetus47million years ago3 metres longstronger neckarms are widertail is strongerpermanently in waterconsidered first one to have legs as flippers and the tail started evolving into current whale fluke yet still heavily debated as there is very limited fossil evidence or any complete skeleton. So its heavily disputed.

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dorudon9 million years ago5 metres longteeth became smallernostrils retreated back inthe skullthin bodyelbow dissapearhind legs dissapearthought to be baby basilosaurus.name means “spear-toothed”thought to swim like modern dolphins. small animal, meant very agile compared to large animals present at its time. Yet a strong climate change provoked most other species to starve and go extinct, but dorudon prospered.

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From wolf to what?!Evidence that proves whales are descendants of and old mammal that resembled wolves. The drawing on the left is the vestigial hipbone all whales possess nowadays. It is found down the spine, unattached to any other bones and lacks any function for the animal. On the right the human hipbone, in both you can distinguish the femur (bottom) and pubis (right). Both also have a socket which is the joint to the leg. Having vestigial useless bones is not rare, in fact humans have the coxis in the same area (what once was a tail). The whale bone is so large it would not fit this page in actual size.

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Biological taxonomyA superficial overview of how living organisms are organised into categories in biology. Each category is within the previous one, slowly narrowing down and specifying the species. The italics words refer to the category the Blue Whale belongs to.

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DOMAIN What type of cell system the organism has-bacteria/ archaea / eukarya (life form with nucleus)

Multicellular organisms types: protista / fungi / planate / animalia

KINGDOM

Structure of organism, vertebrate, invertebrate etc...chordata PHYLUM

Reptile, insect, mammalia (gives birth, mammal glands-milk, ear bone, placenta, four chamber heart are some characteristics)

CLASS

Felines, apes etc, cetacea (mammals adapted to water, arms are flippers, hind limbs are vestigial and thick layer of flubber)

ORDER

Within order subdivision aka apes have gorillas or humans...balaenopteridae (rorqual whales, 8 species)

FAMILY

Humans its homo. balaenoptera (largest group of whales, 9 species all large whales)

GENUS

Humans sapiens. B.musculus (blue whale)SPECIES

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genus variationThis is a family tree showing the different Genus (the second most narrow group in Taxonomy). It does not show all the different Genus there are under the family ‘Balaenopteridae’ but each of the most common species of whales and their close relatives, the dolphins. All of these and even human beings once came from the same mammal and then slowly branched out.

The name of the species from left to right are: Beluga Whale, Humpback Whale, Fin Whale, Blue Whale, Orca (Killer) Whale, Bottlenose Dolphin, Stripped Dolphin, Gray Whale, Sperm Whale and Narwhal Whale.

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massacreThis infographic displays facts and data about the three main whale hunting countries in the world and the organisation trying to put and end to it, the International Whaling Commission (IWC).The main countries under the microscope are Iceland, Norway and surprise, Japan. Once the world came together and realised that our insane hunting was peaking these animals into extinction it was agreed to stop it. Some refuse and maintain a loophole in the law allowing the hunt for ‘scientific reasons’.

The hunting of dolphins arose from the tenderness the series ‘Flipper’ created and thus with money, people seek interaction with these animals and aquariums were born and so their hunting.

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Diversity

This is a list of all the different species known to date. The left side lists all species of dolphin in their common name,their Latin name .The right is the same structure but for whale species.

Many of the names here are of animals in critical danger of extinction but still have a moderate population.

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Species specificsThe following pages contain specific data about some of the most common and popular whale and dolphin species.

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Narwhal Whale

LENGTH4m/13ft

WEIGHT1 tonne.

DIETCarnivore (fish)

POPULATIONCritical75’000

LIFE-SPANavg. 50 years

FACTSrelated to beluga whale. tusk is 4.5m/15ft usually hollow, an extension of the tooth (only 1/500 has it) probably a sexual trait.

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Beluga Whale

LENGTH4-6m/13-20ft

WEIGHT2/3000pound/900-1300kg

DIETCarnivore - fish, crustacean

POPULATIONThreatened150’000 approx

LIFE-SPANavg. 40 years

FACTShas the most flexible neck, allows it to turn its head well.

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BottlenoseDolphin

LENGTH4m/13ft

WEIGHT1000lb/450kg

DIETOmnivore - fish

POPULATIONHuntedbut improving slowly

LIFE-SPANavg. less 46 years

FACTSthey are NOT constantly smiling, its mouth shape.the success of ‘flipper’ has cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and captivity prisons to this animal.

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Striped Dolphin

LENGTH2.5m/8.3ft

WEIGHT153kg/340lb

DIETOmnivore (fish,krill)

POPULATIONHunted but OK2 million approx.

LIFE-SPANAvg. 55 years

FACTSquite small. Easily seen at sea due to colouring. Highly social.

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Blue Whale

LENGTH20-30m/85-105ft

WEIGHT200 tonnes

DIETCarnivore - krill

POPULATIONEndangered 10’000-25’000

LIFE-SPANavg. 90 years

FACTStongue weighs = elephantheart weighs = car

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SpermWhale

LENGTH15-18m/50-60ft

WEIGHT35-45 tonnes

DIETCarnivore - fish (1ton/day)

POPULATIONEndangered 1 million approx.

LIFE-SPANavg. 70 years

FACTScalled sperm whale because when discovered, the goo in its head giving it that shape was thought to be sperm.

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Humpback Whale

LENGTH15-19m/50-60ft

WEIGHTavg. 40 tonnes

DIETOmnivore (krill,plankton)

POPULATIONEndangered 80’000 approx.

LIFE-SPANavg. 48 years

FACTScommon sightseeing. sings loudly for 10-20min non-stop at times.

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Orca Whale

LENGTH6-7m/19-22ft

WEIGHT10’000pound/5000kg

DIETOmnivore (fish,seals etc)

POPULATIONInsufficient DataEstimate 50’000

LIFE-SPANavg. 70 years

FACTSa.k.a Killer Whale. The top fin is the longest of all whale species.

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king of the world

A size comparison to the same scale. That little dot down there would be a scuba diver, a person. The species of each animal in descending size order is: Blue Whale, Fin Whale, Sperm Whale, Humpback Whale, Orca Whale...Homo Sapiens.

Whales are the largest mammals known to have lived on Earth. Yet they are so efficient at energy conservation their lungs change almost entirely on each breath. This means that they have to take a breath a couple of times per hour and their heart can beat as little as 3 times per minute (human average is around 90).

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inspiring winter

Posters that tell the story of two beautiful and inspiring stories of exceptional animals. Both feature in their own film, both released in 2011.

This is Winter. A dolphin that is being taken care of at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida USA since 2005 and remains being an inspiration to people to visit and donate to help push her cause forward. The movie directed by Charles Martin Smith titled ‘Dolphin Tale’ is an adaptation of her story casting Winter as herself.

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luna’s story

This is a totally different story of an Orca Whale called Luna. She was stranded from her family and made the community her family. There was a constant debate of trying to attempt returning her to sea with other Orca or to isolate her from human interaction for both parties’ safety. Sadly, one morning playing her favourite game, boat chase, he underestimated the power of the boat and got too close. His story is told in the film by Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit titled ‘The Whale’.

ESTER AMIGO SANCHEZicsestersanchez@hotmail.com