Like all other animals, marine mammals must work for a living, hunting or foraging for the food they need to sustain them, and they will often be found in proximity to their preferred food sources. Thus, knowledge of their diet and feeding patterns plays an important role in locating them and understanding their observed behaviour. […]
Baleen whales produce complex sounds consisting of distinct sequences of tones ranging from high-pitched squeals to frequencies too low for human ears to hear. These sounds vary considerably in character. Noises that the human brain interprets as grunts, moans, roars, clangs and sighs can all be heard, in sequences that may last ten minutes or
Given the acoustic properties of the medium in which they live and their highly developed auditory senses, it is no surprise to learn that most cetacean communications are sonic. Dolphins have a vocabulary of clicks and whistles uttered sometimes above but mostly under water. When bow-riding (see Surface Behaviour), they often use these high-frequency calls,
Usually the most obvious difference between a whale and a dolphin or porpoise is size. Other key differentiators include the presence of baleen or teeth, the shape and number of teeth in the latter case, the height of the spout or ‘blow’ and the shape of the rostrum. Whales have either baleen or teeth, while
Like all other mammals, including humans, marine mammals give birth to welldeveloped young following a period of internal gestation and nourish them during their early lives by suckling. They also share common mammalian characteristics such as endothermy (producing the warmth they need to function from within their own bodies), air-breathing and well-defined limbs. A few
The first ever land based whale- and dolphin-watching station in Sri Lanka is reported to have been set up on Norway Islet in Koddiyar Bay, Trincomalee, in the early 1980s. The location has the best possible line of sight for whales, directly overlooking the Trincomalee canyon system, which begins east of Tambalagam Bay, runs between
Not many people know that the waters surrounding Sri Lanka are among the best places in the world to see whales, dolphins and other marine mammals. Mainly, this is due to a lack of proper information and publicity. Though sightings are frequent at many locations round the island, not many find their way into the
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