Whales are an extremely intelligent species that have been around for millions of years.
The earliest ancestors to whales can be tracked back to over 50 million years ago when their ancestors walked and hunted on land.
In fact traces of their ancestors land dwelling past can still be found in the bones located in their spine and fins.
When whales are observed swimming they can be seen moving their body and flukes up and down as opposed to left and right the way fish and sharks move their body.
This indicates a spine that was once used for running and traveling on land.
The ancestral bones that are also found in a whales fins resemble limbs that were used to walk and hunt on land.
In addition to their bone structure whales are also marine mammals which means they are warm-blooded, require oxygen and feed milk to their young.
All of these characteristics are common among land mammals and show further evidence of the whales evolutionary past.
From research and various excavations that have been done it is believed that whales first took to the ocean 50 million years ago and slowly evolved into the marine mammals we now know today.
Whale research today
Today there are around known 80 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises in existence that all live exclusively in the ocean and make up what is known as the cetacean family.
Whales are a very big interest to the marine biologists and scientists who research and study these majestic creatures for a number of reasons.
Through educating ourselves about whales we can better understand how things such as echolocation work and possibly adapt them to our technology.
Because whales and dolphins have such a sophisticated and complex social language scientists hope to one day be able to decipher it and develop technology that will allow them to communicate directly with whales and dolphins.
While it may take some time to develop this understanding and technology it would be amazing to have another species that we could sit down with (are rather swim with) and have a full conversation.
Whale research has also taught marine biologists a lot about how whales help stabilize the oceans ecosystem and pull carbon out of the air.
For instance sperm whale poop is very important for feeding phytoplankton (an oceanic plant that pull carbon out of the atmosphere).
As the phytoplankton grows it pulls more and more carbon from the atmosphere cleaning up the environment and creating a healthier ecosystem for both land and oceanic creatures.
Without the sperm whale there would be much more carbon in the atmosphere.
The blue whale (the largest mammal in existence) can consume as many as 40 million krill per day!
Without blue whales in our ocean we would have an over abundance of krill and other oceanic life that could end up over eating and diminishing their food supplies or the food supplies of other known and unknown species.
The same could hold true for whales that consume large quantities of fish.
Without the existence of whales, fish and other aquatic species may temporarily grow and prosper due to a lack of predators but may eventually end up eating until they had difficulty finding a sufficient food source.
Whether or not it is likely that things would be this dramatic it does raise questions about the possibility of how whales can affect both our and the oceans ecosystem.
In fact some scientists and marine biologists have pointed out that their have been definite consequences associated with the effects of a diminishing whale population due to the actions of the whaling industry, which flourished between the 16th – 20th centuries.
During this period hundreds of thousands of whales were killed and some species were hunted into near extinction.
According to those who carry strong feelings about the whaling era some feel that the ecological effects caused by this period in time will last forever.