Interesting Facts About Whales: What Do Whales Eat

Whales are marine mammals which are endangered due to whaling throughout the 20th century. But what do whales eat? This post will answer that question and then tell you some very interesting facts about whales.

What Do Whales Eat:
Different species of whales eat very different things. Toothed whales (such as killer whales) have large sets of teeth. They will feed on schools of fish, squid and other marine mammals (such as seals). A few toothed whale species eat other whales and dolphins. Killer whales work together to try and catch large prey, including the largest mammal in the world- blue whales. Baleen whales have no teeth and filter their food through baleen plates. They feed on small fish, plankton and kill. Baby whales feed on milk from their mothers.

Interesting Facts About Whales:
    Male whales are called bulls and females are called cows. Baby whales are called calves.
    Females give birth to just one whale and nurse them for about a year (sometimes longer).
    A whale swallows Marlin and Dory in the film Finding Nemo.
    Whales have been hunted by humans for many years for whale oil, whale meat and a perfume that can be made out of the intestines of sperm whales (pretty disgusting!)
    Pilot whales have ‘whale’ in their name but they are actually dolphins.