What is the scientific name for whales?

Cetacea
Cetaceans/Scientific names

What was the first whale called?

Pakicetus
Odd as it may seem, a four-footed land mammal named Pakicetus, living some 50 million years ago in what we know as Pakistan today, bears the title of “first whale.” Straddling the two worlds of land and sea, the wolf-sized animal was a meat eater that sometimes ate fish, according to chemical evidence.

What is the scientific name of Blue whale?

Balaenoptera musculus
Blue whale/Scientific names

What are 4 types of whales called?

All whales and dolphins can be divided into two categories: baleen whales and toothed whales. Toothed whales include the sperm whale, beaked whales, dolphins, porpoises and the beluga whale and narwhal.

What is the scientific name for humpback whales?

Megaptera novaeangliae
Humpback whale/Scientific names

Are whales dinosaurs?

The Origin of Whales or the Evolution. The first whales appeared 50 million years ago, well after the extinction of the dinosaurs, but well before the appearance of the first humans. Their ancestor is most likely an ancient artiodactyl, i.e. a four-legged, even-toed hoofed (ungulate) land mammal, adapted for running.

Where was the first whale found?

Pakistan
Pakicetus, extinct genus of early cetacean mammals known from fossils discovered in 48.5-million-year-old river delta deposits in present-day Pakistan. Pakicetus is one of the earliest whales and the first cetacean discovered with functional legs.

Is Antarctic blue whale?

The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus ssp. Intermedia) is the largest animal on the planet, weighing up to 200 tons (approximately 33 elephants) and reaching up to 30 meters in length. Their low frequency whistle can be heard for hundreds of miles and is probably used to attract other blue whales.

Is an Orca a whale?

These marine mammals are incredibly powerful ocean icons, but I’ve got news about orcas that may surprise some of you: the “killer whale” is NOT technically a whale! Orcas have a lot of characteristics in common with whales, but taxonomically, they’re actually dolphins!

Is dolphin a whale?

Spoiler alert, dolphins are in fact whales, or part of the whale family. Stay with us, this gets a little confusing. Scientifically, all whales, dolphins and porpoises are classified as Cetacea. And within Cetacea are two suborders: baleen whales and toothed whales.

What is the Latin or scientific name for whale?

Most people call them by their common name, blue whale, while scientists use the scientific name, Balaenoptera musculus . The scientific name of each species is made up of a genus name ( Balaenoptera) and a specific species name ( musculus ).

What is the species name for a whale?

All the whale species are categorized in two groups, the toothed whale or also known as Odontoceti and the baleen whale also known as Mysteceti. There is approximately 35 species of whales. Below are famous kinds of whales: Beaked whales are known the largest toothed whale group.

What is the family name for a whale?

Blue whales are rorquals (family Balaenopteridae), a family that includes the humpback whale, the fin whale, Bryde ‘s whale, the sei whale, and the minke whale. The family Balaenopteridae is believed to have diverged from the other families of the suborder Mysticeti as long ago as the middle Oligocene (28 Ma ago).

What is family of whales called?

A group of killer whales is called a pod. These pods consist of family members traced through the maternal line. Three different types of pods have been identified: resident pods, transient pods and offshore pods.