15 Wonderfully Weird Facts About Whales

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15 Wonderfully Weird Facts About Whales

Remember Star Trek IV: The One About The Whales? They plucked those two wonderful behemoths from the streets of San Francisco and whisked them up into space to save Earth from a giant space cigar. You know, it looked like the IRL one from a couple years back. Anyway, Spock could talk to them, that's all that matters. Spock can mind-meld with anything. Totally give Aquaman a run for his Atlantean money, whatever that is. 

We're getting a little off-track here.

What we're doing here today is taking you on one of those whale-watching tours. You'll get all the facts: from whale BFFs to wait, those testicles weigh how much?!? — without having to sit next to some chirpy rando from Cracked blathering on about Star Trek IV or getting a blast of seawater to the noggin. Nope, here’s just a list of some incredible facts about the giant of the sea, that wonderful whale.

What's your whale type?

Whales can be divided into two main types. Baleen whales {14 species) have baleen sheets that they use to sieve their prey from seawater, and toothed whales (76 species) have teeth to bite with. Baleen whales are also pretty huge in general-think humpbacks and blue whales - and they have two blowholes where toothed whales only have one. CRACKED.COM

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No sunscreen here

Whales get sunburns. Some species have been recorded with blisters on their skin from our powerful sun. Blue whales use pigmentation to try and protect themselves from those UV rays s j just like us s-and sperm whales trigger a stress response in their genes. CRACKED.COM

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Whale of a tail

Whale tails are like fingerprints. No whale tail's the same. Scientists refer to it as their fluke IDs. CRACKED.COM

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That is some thick milk

Whale milk is the texture of toothpaste. A whale's milk is almost 50% fat {cow's milk is 4%), allowing it to travel through water without just scattering and dissolving because the mothers often shoot streams of milk into their baby's mouths. CRACKED.COM

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Humpback whales and wind turbine tech

Humpback whales have inspired better wind turbine technology. Humpbacks have little bumps on the edges of their flippers that help them maneuver and make tricky turns at high speeds to generate lift and catch their food. It's called the tubercle effect and it's been used in wind turbine technology to reduce drag and keep turbine blades from stalling. CRACKED.COM

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Biggest, Bluest

The blue whale is believed to be the largest animal that has ever lived (and it feeds on jelly bean-sized krill.. At a whopping 90 - 110 feet and a colossal 330, ООО pounds, the weight of a blue whale equals that of 24 elephants. CRACKED.COM

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