Do whales have navels? 10 Weird Whale Questions Answered

Do whales have navels?

They sure do! Whales, like humans, are mammals and give birth to live young. Whale calves grow inside their mother’s womb and receive oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical cord, which breaks during birth and leaves behind a navel.

Do whales have hair?

Yes, they are mammals, and one of the characteristics common to all mammals is the presence of hair. Most are born with hair, but lose it as they age. Adult humpback whales, however, have distinctive knobby bumps called tubercles, each containing a sensory hair.

Do whales poop?

Yes. The color and consistency of their poop depends on the species, but generally speaking, whale poop is a diarrhea-like substance that appears as a scattered cloud or plume on the surface. It sounds a bit gross and weird, but poop is loaded with iron and nitrogen and is actually a vital component of the marine ecosystem.

Do whales have teeth?

Whales are divided into two categories: toothed whales and baleen whales. The toothed variety, which includes sperm, billfish and dolphins, can have more than 100 teeth in their jaws. The bearded variety, such as the humpback, blue, and right, have beards instead of teeth. Baleen is a strong yet flexible material made from keratin (exactly the same protein that makes up our hair and nails) and is used to filter food from the water for ingestion.

Do whales fart?

Yes. Scientists observed a minke whale expelling gas off the coast of Antarctica and, unsurprisingly, it didn’t smell like roses.

Do whales eat people?

No. Despite the many stories in mythology and storybooks, there has never been a recorded incident of a whale eating a human.

Do whales yawn?

A full-fledged mammalian yawn requires the ability to breathe through the mouth. Whales breathe through nostrils, so they don’t have the ability to yawn.

Do whales have lungs?

Yes. They are mammals and, like all mammals, they breathe with lungs, not gills.

What do whales drink?

Whales can obtain water in one of two ways: They can obtain water through their food or produce it internally from the metabolic breakdown of food. To make this possible, whales have special kidneys that are designed to deal with strong concentrations of salt water.

Do whales have tongues?

Yes, and here’s a disturbing fact: a blue whale’s tongue can weigh as much as an elephant!