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Whales

Humpback whales being tagged by researchers off the coast of Antarctica in 2018. The data gathered revealed that diet largely dictates a whales' maximum size.

Whales Are the Biggest Animals to Ever Exist—Why Aren’t They Bigger?

New research highlights the role diet plays in dictating a cetacean’s size

Short-finned pilot whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus, underwater off Isla San Marcos, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Ancient Whale Fossil Helps Detail How the Mammals Took From Land to Sea

A 39-million-year-old whale with floppy feet, which may not have been very good for walking, helps illuminate the massive animals’ transition to the oceans

New Research

Researchers Measure a Wild Blue Whale’s Heart Rate for the First Time

The team found the world’s largest mammal pushes its heart to its limits

A humpback whale basks in sunlight at the ocean's surface in Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Dominican Republic.

South Atlantic Humpback Whales Have Rebounded From the Brink of Extinction

A new study estimates that the group’s population has grown from 440 individuals in 1958 to nearly 25,000 today

Illegally caught belugas in a pool in Srednyaya Bay near the city of Nakhodka in Russia's Far East.

Russia Frees Last Belugas From Notorious ‘Whale Jail’

Dozens of orcas and belugas had been kept in small sea pens, reportedly awaiting sale to China

Researchers debate whether Iron Age Scots hunted the massive fin whales or simply made the most of animals swept ashore.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Hollowed-Out Whale Vertebra Containing Human Jawbone, Remains of Newborn Lambs

Iron Age Scots made the unusual vessel with the bone of a fin whale, Earth’s second largest whale species

The excavation of the whale specimen from the “slime pit” in Florida.

Smithsonian Voices

Saving This Rare Whale Skeleton Was a Dirty Job

The Smithsonian welcomes a rare whale skeleton that was found dead on an island in the Florida Everglades

The team discovered a whale fall while exploring Davidson Seamount off central California’s coast.

Cool Finds

Watch Marine Life Feast on a Complete Whale Skeleton on the Ocean Floor

It’s spooky season on the seafloor, too

A humpback whale, not involved in the study, shows off its pecs.

Watch Humpback Whales Scoop Fish Into Their Mouths Using Their Fins

With the help of a drone and other new technologies, researchers were able to study the whales from a bird’s-eye view

New Research

North Atlantic Right Whale Mamas Whisper to Their Babies to Keep Them Safe

By using soft grunts instead of their normal loud call, it’s believed they avoid the attention of orcas, sharks and other predators

How Drones Are Helping Scientists Figure Out Whales’ Weight

Because it is so difficult to weigh the huge marine mammals, whale body mass is often not included in studies

An Atlantic spotted dolphin swims behind a Pilot whale.

Shedding Genes Helped Whales and Dolphins Evolve for Life at Sea

When adopting an aquatic lifestyle, cetaceans ditched genetic code related to sleep, DNA restoration and more

Found: A Hub Where Humpback Whales Share Their Songs

A new study has found that whales from diverse locations gather at the Kermadec Islands, where they seem to transmit unique ditties

The bottlenose mother, pictured here with her adoptive whale calf and biological daughter, exhibited unusually tolerant behavior

Researchers Document First Known Case of Dolphin Mom Adopting Whale Calf

The melon-headed male whale actively competed for his adoptive mother’s attention, repeatedly shoving his bottlenose dolphin sister out of the way

Nantucket harbor

Follow Herman Melville’s Footsteps Through Nantucket

The writer visited the island off of Cape Cod only after he penned Moby Dick

Minke whale on a whaling ship in a Hokkaido port on July 1, 2019.

Trending Today

Japan Resumes Commercial Whaling in Its Home Waters

As of yesterday, the whaling fleet had caught 2 minke whales and set a quota of 227 animals for the rest of 2019

Cool Finds

Listen to the First Known Song of the North Pacific Right Whale

Researchers spent years trying to trace the source of the rhythmic, gunshot pattern to the endangered whale species

The narwhal-beluga hybrid skull.

New Research

This Bizarre Whale Is a Beluga-Narwhal Hybrid

A new study documents what may be the first-known evidence of breeding between the two species

Trending Today

NOAA Is Investigating 70 Gray Whale Deaths Along the West Coast

The whales seem to have died from starvation and washed up on shore from California to Alaska

Two Captive Beluga Whales Are Heading to First-of-Its-Kind Sanctuary in Iceland

It is the first refuge of its kind for belugas

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