Whale

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Terrestrial / Life /Animal / Mammal / Whale
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whale : any of various very large, aquatic, marine mammals (order Cetacea) that have a torpedo-shaped body with a thick layer of blubber, paddle-shaped forelimbs but no hind limbs, a horizontally flattened tail, and nostrils that open externally at the top of the head — Merriam-Webster See also OneLook

Thesaurus

Roget’s II (Thesaurus.com), Merriam-Webster Thesaurus, Visuwords

Encyclopedia

Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. They are an informal grouping within the infraorder Cetacea, usually excluding dolphins and porpoises. Whales are creatures of the open ocean; they feed, mate, give birth, suckle and raise their young at sea. So extreme is their adaptation to life underwater that they are unable to survive on land. Whales range in size from the 2.6 metres (8.5 ft) and 135 kilograms (298 lb) dwarf sperm whale to the 29.9 metres (98 ft) and 190 metric tons (210 short tons) blue whale, which is the largest creature that has ever lived. — Wikipedia

Whale (Encyclopædia Britannica)

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Inspiration

Swimming With Giants (American Museum of Natural History, YouTube 360° Video)
The Blu: Whale Encounter (Transport by Wevr, YouTube 360° Video)

Talks about Whales (TED: Ideas Worth Spreading)

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Innovation

Science

Cetology is the branch of marine mammal science that studies the approximately eighty species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises in the scientific order Cetacea. — Wikipedia

Whale Science (Whale Scientists)

The Center for Whale Research

Mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. Mammalogy has also been known as “mastology,” “theriology,” and “therology.” The major branches of mammalogy include natural history, taxonomy and systematics, anatomy and physiology, ethology, ecology, and management. — Wikipedia

Mammalogy (Encyclopædia Britannica)

The Science of Mammalogy (The American Society of Mammalogists)

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Preservation

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Participation

Education

A Whale of a Tale (OLogy, American Museum of Natural History)

Cetacean Curriculum (American Cetacean Society)

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

Occupation

Cetologists , or those who practice cetology, seek to understand and explain cetacean evolution, distribution, morphology, behavior, community dynamics, and other topics. — Wikipedia

How to Become a Whale Scientists (Whale Scientists)

How to Become a Marine Mammal Scientist (The Society for Marine Mammology)

Careers in Mammalogy (American Society of Mammalogists)

Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists (CareerOneStop, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration)

Organization

American Cetacean Society

Society for Marine Mammalogy

American Society of Mammalogists
The Mammal Society

News

Marine Mammal Science (Society for Marine Mammalogy)

Mammal Review (The Mammal Society)
Journal of Mammalogy (American Society of Mammalogists)
Mammalian Species (American Society of Mammalogists)

Whales (EurekaAlert, American Association for the Advancement of Science)
Whales (bioRxiv: Preprint Server for Biology, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Whales (JSTOR)
Whales (Science Daily)
Whales (Science News)
Whales (Phys.org)
Whales (NPR Archives)

Government

Whales (Northeast Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries)
Whale / Cetacean FAQs (Northeast Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries)

More News …

Dolphins and Whales News -- ScienceDaily Whales and dolphins. Whale songs, beaching, endangered status -- current research news on all cetaceans.

Forget the sperm race: Fertilization may depend...
on August 6, 2026 at 6:25 am
Millions of sperm do not always compete alone—some species send them into action as coordinated teams. A sweeping evolutionary study found that this cooperation is widespread among arthropods and has repeatedly emerged and vanished over hundreds of millions of years. The discovery challenges the classic “fastest sperm wins” story and could influence future fertility research and pest-control strategies.
Orcas filmed smashing giant sunfish into...
on July 23, 2026 at 1:55 pm
Researchers in the Gulf of California have documented a dramatic orca behavior never described before. In two separate encounters, one orca gripped a dead sunfish by the fin while another charged into it at high speed, blasting the carcass into thousands of pieces.
Scientists found mystery bacteria inside one of...
on July 21, 2026 at 5:10 am
Scientists studying decades of pygmy sperm whale strandings have uncovered three previously unknown types of Helicobacter bacteria hiding in the animals’ stomachs. All four infected whales showed serious digestive damage, including inflammation, ulcers, scarring, and parasite infestations, although the bacteria were not confirmed as the cause of death.
On the brink of extinction, the vaquita gets a...
on June 17, 2026 at 12:01 pm
Scientists have digitally preserved the world’s most endangered marine mammal by creating highly detailed 3D models of a vaquita skeleton using advanced imaging technology. The virtual archive provides an unprecedented look at the species and could help inspire conservation efforts before the tiny porpoise disappears forever.
Beluga whales keep switching mates and it may be...
on June 4, 2026 at 7:51 am
Hidden beneath Arctic waters, beluga whales have long kept their family lives a mystery. By analyzing DNA from more than 600 belugas in Alaska’s Bristol Bay over 13 years, researchers uncovered a surprisingly flexible mating system: both males and females regularly have offspring with different partners over their lifetimes.

Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.

Perceived naturalness emerges as key driver of...
on August 11, 2026 at 8:40 pm
From nuclear energy to lab-grown meat, the list of effective but unpopular climate solutions is long. A new University of Colorado Boulder study sheds light on why people reject or accept some proposed sustainability technologies: If it doesn't seem natural, they won't go for it. And that holds across political ideologies.
The sediment story: A journey that impacts...
on August 10, 2026 at 10:00 pm
Every monsoon, India's rivers turn brown. To most of us, that color simply means muddy water. But hidden within it is the material that builds fertile floodplains, creates river islands, nourishes deltas and even shapes coastlines: sediment.
Birdsong and whale song show patterns similar to...
on August 7, 2026 at 6:00 pm
An international team of researchers has uncovered a previously undetected structure in the birdsong of Bengalese finches that has the same statistical patterns found in human languages.
Male sperm whales produce loudest communication...
on August 3, 2026 at 9:20 pm
Deep in the world's oceans, large male sperm whales emit slow, low-frequency clicks with the highest source levels of any animal communication sounds. These slow clicks are not the echolocation clicks the whales use to locate prey, but loud, low-frequency communication signals.
Genetic analysis identifies a distinct Risso's...
on August 3, 2026 at 3:40 pm
Risso's dolphins around the British Isles are part of a single population—genetically distinct from those elsewhere in the Atlantic, new research shows. Scientists studied the DNA of dolphins that stranded in England, Scotland and Wales from 1992 to 2016.