A new mammal discovery? Yes, it’s official. The scientific community put a seal of approval on a new deep sea mammal. Deep sea mammals are a challenge to find, let alone study. Especially this new mammal species because it spends time 6,000 feet under the ocean!
DEEP SEA MAMMALS
I’m excited but Louie was not, at least not initially. He hates the ocean and hates swimming.
I told him that we can read all about this cool new mammal discovery without getting wet.
Unfortunately, he can’t partake in my new chocolate cake discovery either, because of the chocolate!
With a bribe of his favorite salmon jerky, Louie acquiesced on both counts. Let’s take a tour of the deep sea, focusing on deep sea mammals.
But first, the new mammal discovery. (Mammal discoveries are rare. You can read why here!)
This post is about a new beaked whale!
NEW SPECIES OF WHALE: BEAKED WHALE
You’re wondering how a beak looks on a whale. Not as bad as Louie’s bucket hat .
If you check out the whale skull in the photo below, it does resemble a beak!
In 2011, a pregnant, beaked whale washed up onto shore in New Zealand, which –obviously—made examination accessible. (and a little sad!)
Māori whale specialist Ramari Stewart discovered the whale. (below) This species is named after her.
NEW MAMMAL DISCOVERY : RAMARI'S BEAKED WHALE
NEW MAMMAL SPECIES: SIZE COMPARISON
For a frame of reference, how about we back it up & gather some facts about whales!
SEA MAMMALS : BASIC WHALE FACTS
What isn’t as obvious is that there are two types of whales; baleen and toothed. The key difference between them is the way they feed and what they have inside their mouth.
If you went through the slide show above, you’re probably wondering why I included a photo of what is quite obviously a bottlenose dolphin.
Dolphins & porpoises all have teeth &-- rather confusingly-- are known as ‘toothed whales!'
TOOTHED WHALES = dolphins, porpoises,AND whales?
Yes, it's dumb but trueAnother intriguing difference between baleen and toothed whales is the number of blowholes on top of their head!
DEEP SEA MAMMALS : BALEEN WHALES con't
SEA MAMMALS : TOOTHED WHALES
Okay, so toothed whales are predators. How do they find their prey on a planet that is covered with 71% water for a total of 360 million square kilometers?
Keep reading and you’ll know how, too!
As an aside, in ultrasound imaging, echoes are produced when sound waves bounce off tissues.
DOLPHINS VERSUS PORPOISES
As I’d said, I was surprised to learn that the toothed whales include all species of dolphins & porpoises.
And I admit that I didn’t know the differences between dolphins versus porpoises. But I do now!
Let’s sort it out.
WHALES, DOLPHINS, AND PORPOISES
SEA MAMMALS : ORCA
Orcas are sometimes called killer whales
NO!
“Killer” is an unfair designation. This happened because remains of cute little seals have been found in orca’s stomachs. No one calls a blue whale a ‘killer’ when it sucks in 8000 pounds of krill every day.
For a peek at another of my favorite species, octopus, click on this link. (Okya, octopus are not deep sea mammals, but they are cool.) A new species of deep sea octopus made the books last year!
DEEP SEA MAMMALS
WE MADE SENSE OF SCIENCE!
What a fun romp in the ocean with the cetaceans! Even Louie agrees!
And you had a front row seat! (Yes, I’ve been fiddling around with pasting photos in photos. It’s fun, too.)
Now for the most important questions; seals or krill? Which is cuter? Which one would you eat?
The deep sea is a place where there are so many undiscovered creatures and wonders it’s great to read about a new mammal!
It is fun that we’ve found a new mammal, though I’m sure if they could communicate with us, they’d scratch their blowholes and say that we’ve been here all along. Thanks, Molly!
Such an interesting post, and Louie is adorable!
Louie and I thank you!
I’m obsessed with whales and dolphins – I spend hours researching them and love finding out all about them
Rosie
Then this post is in your wheelhouse. I love them, too! Thanks!
It’s amazing that these mammals can hold their breath for an hour. I love all your cool facts and the pics of Louie. Thanks!
Louie is rather photogenic (!) so it’s easy to take the pics. Thanks so much!
Love this post.
You make science so much fun and I always feel informed after one of your posts.
I love dolphins and its interesting to find out about this new discovery.
You love my post! You’ve made my day. I’m so happy that you think I make science fun! That’s high praise, thank you.
Living in Vancouver, I love the beauty of our Orcas and other marine mammals. Thanks for sharing this information!
Vancouver! You must see some phenomenal sights! I agree, orcas are beautiful. Thanks so much.
Wow this is amazing! I love these facts, I didn’t know these things about ocean animals x
Believe it or not, I did not add entire sections of my research about these lovely sea mammals! Don’t get me started on flukes! ha! Thanks, Eleanor.
Cool whales! The mile down graphic was eye-opening – I always found it hard to even swim to the bottom of the deep end of the local pool! Great research as always!
I loved that graphic too! I would need to stretch it out to show us swimming around on the surface. Whales are cool. Thanks Eileen!
That’s seems usually small for a while that dives so deep for squid. I thought the only quid hunters were Sperm Whales. I’m also surprised to find out dolphins are classed as a toothed whale, I thought whales and dolphins were two completely different species
The toothed whale classification surprised me, too. Ramari’s beaked whale is newly discovered last month, so you weren’t really off about squid hunters! It’s amazing that such a small animal can dive so deep, I agree. Thanks!
Ohh what an exciting discovery! They’re such clever animals.
Corinne x
I didn’t go down that rabbit hole about their brain size and intelligence, but they are clever animals. Thanks, Corinne1
wow! that’s so impressive they can hold their breath for that long. thanks for sharing this & including such wonderful facts.
An hour is a long time! Imagine how far they can swim in an hour underwater. No wonder we couldn’t find them before now. Thanks!
Great post as usual.Louie is adorable always. M
Louie is sweet and helpful at all times! Thanks, Mary!
Things like this really fascinate me. I love that we are still discovering new species.
Facts about the sea, space, and animals fascinate me too! I like that our scientific advancements are enabling us to explore more of our world. Thanks so much!
I always laugh with your dog participating in your posts with its own unique way! So much info here. I only new some things about dolphins which I totally admire. I had no idea that they belong to the same family as wales. The deep sea is another world full of fascinating creatures.
The deep sea is amazing, all right! I’m happy that Louie and I can also entertain you. Thanks, Eri!
Wow! I think it’s amazing we can still find animals that were previously undiscovered!
That never ceases to amaze me, either! Thanks!
What an exciting discovering! Thanks for sharing this with us. The oceans are so fascinating x
I agree! I love the ocean! Thanks, Jenny.
Wow this is incredible! I love these facts you’ve shared with us, I didn’t know these facts about ocean animals. Thank you so much for sharing with us! Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
You’re so welcome! And thank you for taking a swim in the ocean with me!
so exciting to know a new mammal’s been discovered! this was such a fun thing to read thank you for sharing
jessica | http://www.overdressedblogger.com
I’m happy that you found my post fun to read! Thank you!
I loved your post so much! Science has become such a critical matter nowadays. But you have made easy than the usual. I enjoyed your article from top to bottom!
I appreciate the kind words! That’s my objective; to make science accessible! Thanks!
How interesting! I love everything to do with under the sea and find it so fascinating. It’s incredible how there are still undiscovered creatures!
I love the ocean too. (Unlike Louie!) I could have written a book-length post but had to stop myself. Thanks!
Interesting discovery. I learned a lot of new things on sea mammals from this post. Thank you for sharing.
Great. Thank you for stopping by!
There are so many facts in this post I didn’t know, fascinating! I love the research that was put into this too. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I’m gratified that you love my research. Thanks so much!
Oh I love reading about under the sea animals. They always fascinate me. Thanks so much for sharing all this cool info!
Sea animals fascinate me, too! You’re so welcome. And thanks!
This is such an interesting and informative read!
Thanks so much, Raji!
Yay to new discoveries, the animals living in the sea are one of my obsessions x
Yay for whales! And yay to you for reading my post. Thanks!
This is really cool. It’s quite amazing really that this was able to be discovered considering as you said, that it lives so far in the depths of the ocean. Although it’s sad how we know more about it, due to the dead whale washing up on NZ, at least we can learn more about it.
I thought it sad too, that we only learned about this species due to the death of two of its own. In spite of that, the mysteries of the ocean and animal adaptations never cease to amaze me. I’m happy that you stopped by! Thanks.
That was so fascinating and indepth. I love reading about new discoveries within the world. It makes me think how many more are undiscovered. The sea is so beautiful and interesting. Now if you can find me a mermaid and tell me how I can transform lol
I’ll get right on that mermaid assignment! Thanks!
I told Flora about the new mammal discovery and showed her your blog post – she really enjoyed learning all the facts (despite the sadness), and she loved all the animations too. And we would have to say seals are cuter although we wouldn’t eat either seals or krill, Sue!
Tell Flora I am a little sorry that I included that fact about the pregnant whale! I don’t blame you for choosing seals as a cuter animal over krill, but seals over Louie? ha! Thanks, Lisa.
You just have to wonder how much more there is to discover in the sea. Great job and love your book. Mike
I agree. Our oceans are fascinating and underexplored. Thanks for the kind words, Mike. I’m happy that you love my book!
Very nice post! Thanks on working on it and sharing the info with us!
I just wonder, how many things we still don’t know and haven’t seen yet! This world really is amazing!
I agree! I find new discoveries of all kinds fascinating. (Which is why I love to share some of them.) Thanks so much, Sandra.