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You have probably seen a picture of a smiling dolphin with a mouth full of pearly white teeth. Dolphins are whales but not all whales have teeth. When it comes to whales, they are distinguished by teeth. The two groups of the order Cetacea (whales) are the baleen whales and the toothed whales.
If you guessed that the toothed whales are the ones with teeth, you’d be right. Baleen whales have baleens which are long hair-like follicles that act as a sieve for food in the ocean. Baleen whales live on small fish, krill and plankton and do not require teeth. Most toothed whales actively hunt their prey and need teeth to catch and/or chew their food (some species swallow their food whole). in contrast to sharks which have rows and rows of teeth that can be easily replaced, most whales are just like humans and have one set of teeth that if they lose one they don’t grow back although I’ve never seen a dolphin with dentures.
Sperm Whale Teeth: The Largest Teeth of All Whales
The sperm whale has the largest teeth of any whale species. Sperm whales only have teeth on their lower jaw – their upper jaw has sockets for teeth to rest in – and their teeth can reach incredible lengths. The sperm whale’s teeth can measure 4 to 8 inches and weigh up to 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram). For perspective, most modern great white shark teeth do not exceed about 2.5 inches in length. That makes the teeth of sperm whales more than 3 times as long as the largest modern shark!
Sperm whales use these huge teeth to hunt squid during deep-sea diving. The deepest recorded dive with sperm whales was nearly 3,000 feet, where they prey on deep-water species such as giant squid, sharks and shine. Their large teeth are necessary for catching squid that can grow over 40 feet long with their tentacles!
Believe it or not, ancient sperm whales had even bigger teeth! AN sperm whale relative named Livyatan who lived 5 million years ago had teeth that were 14 inches long! That gives Livyatan the largest biting teeth of any known animal.
What types of whales have no teeth?
All baleen whales, mentioned earlier, have no teeth. They use their baleen to sift through the ocean and find small schools of fish and plankton to fill them. Baleen whales include the largest living animal the blue whale like end, perhaps, hunchback, right, pygmy right and gray whales. The bowhead whale has the longest whalebone coming in at 13 feet long. Good thing they don’t have to brush, that would be quite a bedtime ritual!
How many teeth do dolphins have?
There are 32 species of dolphins with some variations in their dental structures, but usually they have 72-104 teeth. bottlenose dolphins have teeth that are sharp and pointed, but they don’t use them for chewing. They use their beaks and teeth to grab and catch prey like a fish, crabs, shrimp and squid and then they swallow it whole. I see that swallowing a squid would be easy, but a spiny fish? They have skills for that, they know how to grab the fish with their teeth and swallow them head first so their spines don’t cut them on the way.
Orca Teeth: Bigger Than a Big White!
orcas are actually a kind of dolphin. Orcas are the largest dolphin species and are black and white and can grow up to 32 feet tall! You would assume such a large whale would have large teeth and you would be right!
A killer whale tooth is up to 4 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. That is a large tooth that is larger than the size of great white shark teeth (which are normally about 2.5 inches long). Orcas have 40-56 white teeth that interlock from top to bottom. They have only one set of teeth and cannot grow back teeth. Orcas are cruel hunters and hunting in groups and use their teeth to attack their prey, but after tearing their prey to pieces, they swallow their prey whole. There are some orca groups that prefer to eat fish, such as: salmon, and another group that prefers marine mammals such as sea lions, walrus and seals.
How do the teeth of dolphins and porpoises differ?
The biggest difference between dolphins and porpoises is that dolphins have a long
beak (or snout) and porpoises have a round face with little or no beak. Dolphins are also bigger than porpoises. There is one species of porpoise that does not have a dorsal fin (Yangtze Finless Porpoise), while all dolphins do have dorsal fins. Another difference is that dolphins have triangular, pointed teeth and porpoises have flatter or spade-shaped teeth. Porpoises do not use their teeth for chewing and like dolphins, they eat their prey whole and enjoy fish, crustaceans and squid.
What kind of whale has only one tooth?
One of the most unique looking whales has only one tooth. The narwhal has what looks like a unicorn horn coming out of his head. It is actually a tooth made of similar tusk compositions, but has very different properties. The long tusk-like tooth spirals and comes to a point. The tips of the tooth are flexible enough to bend, perhaps to prevent breakage. The outer part of the tooth is porous and the inner part is more like our dentin.
One research study compared the properties of narwhal teeth to those of human teeth, cow teeth, and reindeer antlers. The researchers found that the content and hardness of the narwhal tooth was “softer and less mineralized” than those of humans and cattle, but that its flexible properties were more similar to reindeer antlers.
Not all narwhals have this horn-like tooth. Only the males will develop one, with a few exceptions of the females developing a smaller one that eventually falls off. Men also sometimes lose their tooth and seem to live just fine without it. Some males will have two teeth with one tooth being significantly smaller and rarely will a male narwhal have two teeth of equal length.
They use their horn-like teeth to aid in the hunt, but they don’t use it to impale their prey as you might think. They can poke their prey to stun them and then jump forward and swallow their prey. They have no other teeth and therefore swallow their prey whole.
What kind of whale has only two teeth?
Beaked whales only have two teeth! The Blainville’s beaked whale has two teeth, one on each side of their faces that protrude above their noses and look like small rhinoceros horns. Because the teeth are exposed to the water and the elements, barnacles often grow on them, giving the appearance of having star-shaped whiskers. (Maybe the beaked whales need a dentist!).
Cuvier’s beaked whales also only have two teeth, but they are more hidden, just below their snouts. Only the male’s teeth are visible and the females have teeth, but they never erupt. The teeth of beaked whales are not used for chewing food, but are instead used to fight with other males during the mating season.
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