Mamie McGregor, age 9, of Dover, Del., for his question:
DO WHALES HAVE TEETH?
Some whales have teeth while others do not. There are two main types of whales: the baleen whales that have no teeth and the toothed whales.
Toothed whales have peglike teeth that vary in number. The sperm whale, which can grow to be 65 feet long and weigh 60 tons, has from 36 to 56 teeth, all in the lower jaw. Found in all oceans, the sperm whale has an enormous head that makes up a third of its body length.
Other toothed whales include the bottle nosed whale, the giant bottle nosed whale, the killer whale and the narwhal whale.
The bottle nosed whale, which grows to be 30 feet long and weighs 10 tons, has only four teeth. It is found in the North Atlantic and Antarctic regions. The giant bottle nosed whale, that grows to be 42 feet long and weighs 30 tons, also has only four teeth. This whale can be found in the North Pacific and the Antarctic regions also.
The killer whale (30 feet long and weighing 10 tons) has 40 to 48 teeth. This glossy black whale that has a white underside can be found in all oceans.
The male norwhal (18 feet and two tons) has a spiral ivory tusk about eight feet long jutting form the left side of its head. The female has no tusk. This gray and white whale can be found in the Arctic region.
Largest of all whales is the toothless baleen blue or sulfur bottom whale. This giant is 95 feet long and weighs 150 tons. It is found in all oceans.
Baleen whales have horny plates in their mouths that strain out their food from the water. These plates are called baleen or whalebone. The baleen hangs in two rows, like curtains, one on each side of the whale's upper jaw. The inner edges of the plates have a fringe of bristles that strain out food. The female baleen whales are larger than the males.
Toothed whales eat fish and squids. They can hold their prey in their peglike teeth, but they swallow their food without chewing it.
A large sperm whale could probably swallow a man. But a man could not live in a whale's stomach for more than a few seconds, even if he had not been crushed to death.
Baleen whales eat mostly plankton, which is composed of small sea animals and plants. When the whale approaches a mass of plankton, it opens its mouth and swims into its meal. As the whale closes its mouth, its tongue squeezes out the water. The plankton remains on the baleen and the whale swallows it. Baleen whales also eat small fish.
Some toothed whales dive to great depths in their search of food. One sperm whale drowned when it got snarled in a telegraph cable at a depth of 3,720 feet.
Baleen whales dive only about 500 feet. Sperm whales stay under water from 45 minutes to an hour. Most baleen whales stay down only from five to 10 minutes.
Although whales look like fish, they definitely are not fish. They are mammals and breathe through lungs.