Though man has known and pondered whales, dolphins and porpoises from antiquity, we still know very little about them. They are among the most enigmatic of all creatures on Earth. Like us, they are warm-blooded, milk-producing, large-brained, air-breathing animals that once roamed the land, not the sea. They are thought to be related ancestrally to mammals that eventually evolved into large, hooved animals such as caribou and buffalo. But sometime in their evolution, perhaps 50 million years ago, these land animals slipped back into the sea and evolved into whales.
Once back in the sea, they began adapting and developing into different species, splitting into two distinct groups. There are 11 kinds of baleen whales, toothless animals that feed on tiny ocean life called plankton. Among the baleens are the largest whales, indeed the largest animals ever to have lived, the blue whales, which can grow to more than 100 feet long and weigh nearly 400,000 pounds.
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There are 66 kinds of toothed whales, animals that feed on fish and other marine mammals. These include porpoises, dolphins, belugas, false killer whales and killer whales. The largest toothed whale, the sperm whale, grows to nearly 70 feet and weighs 120,000 pounds.
Little is known about any of the whales, including specific life cycles, social orders or even their migratory ranges and habits. Baleen whales are thought to be relatively intelligent, about on the order of horses. Toothed whales are thought to be even more intelligent, though we don`t know how their intelligence works. They have sophisticated social systems, are quick learners in captivity and use a complex form of communication, though what they communicate we don`t know.
What we do know about all whales is that they have few natural enemies other than other whales and that most dangerous of all predators, man. For centuries whalers have hunted down whales relentlessly for their meat, oil and bone.
New technologies such as tracking devices, high-explosive harpoons, high- speed boats and factory ships have made whale hunting a one-sided contest. The giant blue-whale population has been dangerously depleted, the gray whale has disappeared totally from the Atlantic Ocean and the humpback whale is an endangered species.
Worse still, man has technologically magnified his ability to catch ocean fishes, thus making him the major competitor for the whales` food sources. And perhaps worst of all, the pollution that man continues to pour into the oceans shows every potential for killing whale populations either by directly poisoning them or by poisoning the fish on which they (and humans) feed.