Do whales have hair? Discover 4 Whales with Her!

Can you imagine a huge one? blue whale covered in long wavy gray hair? That seems to appeal to the imagination! When we think of whales or dolphins, we think of smooth, hairless skin that allows these sea creatures to glide through the ocean with ease. Yet, mammals are animals with hair and whales are mammals. So, do whales have hair?

In particular, mammals are animals that meet the following criteria:

1. Breathing air (do not use gills)
2. warm-blooded
3. Giving birth to live young
4. babies drink their breast milk
5. have her

Check, check, check, check, but what about the fifth? How can whales and dolphins are considered mammals if they don’t have hair… or do they?

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4 types of whales with hair

Whale Species to do have hair, even though they may not be covered with it. Let’s take a look at four species of whales and the hair they have on their bodies!

1. Humpback Whales

this big one whales are baleen whales sifting the water for little ones krill. They can consume up to 3,000 pounds of food per day to sustain their 40-50 foot body. Humpback whales are named for the hump on their… yes, you guessed it… back. Not like a camel hump, but they do have a hump just in front of their dorsal fin. They also have long fins on either side of their bodies and grooves on their undersides.

Their face seems to be covered with barnacles, but on closer inspection you will see that these are giant hair follicles the size of a golf ball. Her follicles? Yes, humpback whales have hair, but with each follicle carrying one hair, you can easily count the number of hairs on a humpback whale’s head. They usually have somewhere between 30 and 100 hairs, that’s all! These hairs are visible throughout the whale’s life.

2. Fin whales, sei whales, fin whales and bowhead whales

this group of baleen whales has very small hair-like whiskers on their muzzle, chin and jawline. These whiskers have nerves that connect to the roots and are thought to serve a sensory purpose. These are not easy to see and some don’t have them at all. What confuses people is that some of these baleen whales seem to have an extended mustache! When you look at photos of these large whales, you will understand why. But these are actually their baleens, not whiskers. The baleens are long, hair-like structures that filter the water so that only the small krill, plankton and small fish can pass through.

3. Amazon River Dolphin

Dolphins are a type of whale; they are toothed whales with a variety of saltwater and freshwater dolphins. The Amazon River dolphin is a freshwater dolphin that lives in both the Amazon River and the Orinoco River. These unique dolphins look like bottlenose dolphins, except for their pink-tinged skin and a Pinocchio-like snout. Another feature missing from the bottlenose is hair! Amazon dolphins have hair on their snouts, almost like the whiskers of a kitten or walrus. They are believed to use them as a sensory aid to locate prey in the murky river water. They are born with this and keep it into adulthood.

4. Baby Dolphins

Some dolphins have hair in the womb as fetuses and lose it before they are born, while other dolphins are born with hair and lose it shortly after birth. We are not talking about little fluff balls, they just have thin hair or whiskers that are usually found on their snouts. It is believed that these early whiskers can be used to rub against the mother to let her know that her calf is ready to eat. Once the calf no longer needs this, they lose the whiskers and do not grow back hair as adults.

Top 5 Reasons Whales and Dolphins May Have Hair

Whales and dolphins can have hair for a variety of reasons. Here are five of the top reasons whales have hair:

1. Left over from when their ancestors were land mammals: Whales and dolphins are thought to be related to mammals that once roamed the land. If they were land animals, they may have had extensive fur coats for protection and warmth.
2. Observing prey in the water: The whiskers of the Amazonian dolphin are used to find prey in the murky waters of the river. Dolphins in the Amazon also use echolocation, so these two instruments can work together to be even more accurate at locating food.
3. Determine how many prey there are in the area: Baleen whales are thought to be able to use the whiskers on their faces to sense if there is enough prey in an area to take the trouble to open their mouths and expose their baleens to sieve for food.
4. Detect temperature change in the water: Whales’ whisker-like hairs can serve to sense changes in water temperature, which can alert them to changes in currents during migration, helping them decide which
   way to go.
5. Communicating with each other or between mother and baby: Dolphins born with whisker-like hair can rub their whiskers against their mother and communicate that they want to breastfeed. This is one theory as to why they lose their hair when they are able to eat alone.

Do other marine mammals have hair?

Yes! Remember that one of the characteristics of mammals is that they have hair. But what other animals that spend most of their time in the water also have hair?

• harp seals: Think of a cute little fuzzy harp seal baby. These babies are born covered in thick white fur. They need this to stay warm in the harsh winter climate. Whales, on the other hand, have a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm.
• sea ​​otters: They look like beavers but are much, much bigger! Sea otters can grow to 4 feet in length and weigh about 90 pounds. They spend most of their time in the water foraging for food and floating on their backs in groups called “rafts”. They have the thickest fur of any animal with over 900 million hairs! Compare that to the 30-100 hairs of the humpback whale. What a difference!
• Northern Fur Seals: Northern fur seals live in the cold oceans of the North Pacific and Bering Seas and spend about 300 days a year at sea. They are the largest members of the fur seal family, pinnipeds, weighing 130-600 pounds and measuring between 5 and 7 feet in length. Northern fur seals have a thick coat of dense fur with 300,000 hairs per square inch. Their fur is dark brown in color and helps to retain heat. Northern fur seals don’t have blubber like whales; their thick fur is their main heat retention tool.