Whale

Whale An informal group within the infraorder Cetacea
Southern right whale
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Suborder:	Whippomorpha
Infraorder:	Cetacea
Groups included
Parvorder Mysticeti (baleen whales) Parvorder Odontoceti (partially) Family Monodontidae (Arctic whales) Superfamily Physeteroidea (sperm whales) Superfamily Ziphioidea (beaked whales)
Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa
Family Delphinidae (dolphins and porpoises) Superfamily Platanistoidea (Indian river dolphins) Superfamily Inioidea (South American river dolphins)

Whales are a group of cetacean mammals that live in the ocean. Like other mammals, they breathe oxygen from the air, have a small amount of hair, and are warm blooded.

There are two basic kinds of whales, and about 100 species.^[1]

People use the word whale in different ways. Some use it for all Cetaceans including dolphins and porpoises. These people say that dolphins and porpoises are also whales, because they are also Cetaceans. Others separate out the dolphins and porpoises: common English-speaking people have never called them or thought of them as whales unless they are very large. Actually, there is no clear line between whales and dolphins.

Whales have been killed for meat and oil by whalers. However, many countries have laws saying not to kill whales anymore. Some countries, such as Iceland and Japan, do not have these laws. In other countries, such as the USA, only Eskimos and some American Indians may legally kill whales such as the blue whale and beluga whale.

1. ↑ Mead, James G. and Brownell, Robert L. Jr. 2005. Order Cetacea (pp. 723-743). In Wilson, Don E. and Reeder, DeeAnn M. (eds) Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494