Toothed whale

Rare card · No. 36298

The toothed whales (also called odontocetes, systematic name Odontoceti) are a parvorder of cetaceans that includes dolphins, porpoises, and all other whales with teeth, such as beaked whales (even though in most beaked whales species only the males have a few teeth and the females none) and the sperm whales. 73 species of toothed whales are described. They are one of two living groups of cetaceans, with the other being the baleen whales (Mysticeti), which have baleen instead of teeth. The two groups are thought to have diverged around 34 million years ago (mya). Toothed whales range in size from the 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) and 54 kg (119 lb) vaquita to the 20 m (66 ft) and 100 t (98 long tons; 110 short tons) sperm whale. Several species of odontocetes exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that there are size or other morphological differences between females and males. As other cetaceans, they have streamlined bodies and the forelimbs are modified into flippers, while the hindlimbs and pelvis are reduced...

Read on Wikipedia · Image PaleoNeolitic (montage creator), CC BY 4.0