Feeding and Echolocation in Whales

By Robbie Bodnar

Feeding Strategy•Toothed whales use echolocation for hunting their prey

•Baleen whales use baleen plates to obtain huge quantities of food.

Echolocation•Ultra-high frequency

•Sequences of clicks, grunts, moans, squeals and chirps are generated.

•Some sequences can last up to 10 minutes.

•Air is passed by the phonic lips below the blowhole. Sound is amplified and directed by the melon.

•Incoming sounds pass through the lower jaw to the middle ear where it is converted into a 3D picture.

Sperm Whale

Sperm Whale Echolocation

Single Sperm Whale

Pod of Sperm Whale

Uses• Sperm whales dive to great depths with no light to hunt giant

squid.• Killer whales swim in pods to locate prey and are believed to

communicate with one another to strategize.• Beaked whales need it for navigation but are highly effected

by acoustic pollution.

Filter Feeding•Baleen whales swim with their mouth open at the ocean surface.

•Water and organisms enter the mouth.

•The tongue is pressed up to the roof of the mouth which forces water out.

•Small organisms like copepods, krill and some fish get trapped in the baleen plates.

Baleen

Humpback Bubble Feeding

•Whale dives down•As it surfaces it swims in a spiral pattern while releasing air.•The result is a column of bubbles that traps a large number of organisms.•The whale then breaches the surface in the middle of the column with its mouth wide open.

Other Techniques• Right whales swim slowly near the surface and take in

huge quantities of water that contain food. This known as “skim feeding”.

• Rorqual whales use “skim feeding” but they have throat grooves that expand when taking in water. They contract the throat grooves to squeeze the water out.

• Gray whales swim near the bottom and turn sideways to scoop up sediment that contains bottom dwellers.

Resources• http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/palaeofiles/whales/odontoceti.htm• http://www.suite101.com/content/echolocation-in-whales-and-dolphins-a139049• http://www2.hawaii.edu/~zinner/101/students/YvetteEcholocation/echolocation.html• http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/killer-whale/communication.htm• http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/species/cetaceans/sound.html