#whales

[hurglewurm]

and today i bring you: boars, ostriches, various whales (i was going for just baleen whales but my classmate begged for a beluga), and every species of bear from smallest to largest (image descriptions in alt)

#my art #pixel art #whales #animals #bears #ostrich #boar #sun bear #sloth bear #asian black bear #american black bear #brown bear #polar bear #spectacled bear #humpback whale #blue whale #orca #beluga #sperm whale #bowhead whale #right whale

[a-kind-of-merry-war]

Another win for the queer community

#whales #biology

[toddchavezwatchescartoons]

#oregon #whales #the third thing

[cartoonscientist]

let’s hear it for the world’s smallest whale (the vaquita) you guys!!

#cute #animals #vaquita #whales #cetaceans

[mammalidentifier]

im sorry seals molt? my association with that word is insects so i am confused and intrigued

They do! I’d say most species of animals sloughs off “old” parts of their bodies at some point of their lives in some capacity. The word “molting” is used as a catch-all term for this process, although exactly what body part they shed and how they do it varies from animal to animal. Arthropods grow an entire new exoskeleton and shed the old one, but for most other animals, this process only involves shedding the outermost layer of their bodies, the pelage and/or their first layer of skin. Reptiles are quite famous for this because they sometimes manage to come out of their old skins and leave them almost fully intact as if they were kigurumi pajamas:

Mammals tend to mostly only shed fur or hair, growing thicker fur during colder months and losing it in favor of shorter fur during warmer months. How obvious this is depends on the climate, though. It’s quite perceptible in mammals that live in the arctic whose fur changes color depending on the season:

But even the difference between the summer coats and winter coats of domestic dogs can be palpable if you live in places with colder climates!

(I’m quite fascinated by this because I was born and raised in a tropical country and my dogs look the same all year round heh)

But back to the seals. Pinnipeds don’t really use their fur to keep warm like other mammals do, but they still have it, and they have to shed their old coats and grow new ones accordingly, which they do once a year!

In elephant seals, this process is so sudden and so extreme it’s called catastrophic molting. They don’t only lose their fur, but also a layer of dead skin all at once and this forces them to stay on land for a full month without swimming (and therefore, without hunting and eating) until the process is fully done. Because molting requires redirecting blood flow towards the skin instead of to their vital organs as usual, if they swam in the cold waters they’re usually accustomed to while molting, they’d freeze!

Bonus fun fact: despite having lost their fur during the evolution process, cetaceans like whales and dolphins also go through a molting process where they lose a layer of dead skin, which they scrape off by rubbing against rocks and rolling on sand banks.

It’s been recently discovered (as of 2020!) that the reason whales migrate annually from arctic waters to tropical waters is the exact same reason elephant seals spend a month on land: to molt! It’s much easier for a whale to keep warm while shedding its skin in warm waters than it is in cold waters.

#Answers #Seals #Whales #Lizards #Dog

[cristalplanetheart]

#whales #aquatic animals #sea

[tamberella]

A compilation of my magical ocean-themed illustrations - all of these and more are available as prints until Nov 26th in my store here!

#art #ocean #sea #sharks #whales #shark #whale #manta ray #eagle ray #fantasy art #concept art #digital art #digital illustration

[lesspopped]

good morning to everyone but especially the gay whales

#good for them! good for them #very few news stories that could be more relevant to my interests tbh #whales #news

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

#talkin #tik tok #mndiaye 97 #whales #humpback whale #orca #killer whale #🐋 #🐳

[superdogbiter]

Specify in the tags please what species or breed of animal you would choose as a witches familiar if the most obvious were off the table

Let's have fun with this

For example for me it would be a great white shark

Also yes men you can interact with this poll too

#polls #tumblr polls #cats #witches #witches familiar #sharks #hyena #dogs #crocodile #alligator #whales #bats #wolf

[yesterdaysprint]

Lewiston Evening Journal, Maine, March 7, 1917

#1910s #whales #animals #history #illustration

[thestuffedalligator]

Out of a moment of aching sadness and fury and manic impulsivity, a wizard turns a killer whale trapped in a theme park aquarium into a human so she can smuggle it out of the park and back into the wild.

#wizards #fairy tales #whales #orca #think free willy meets the little mermaid #10k #20k #30k #40k

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]

#self help #wholesome #postive #positivity #whales #whale #tweets #meme #memes #tweet #twitter #funny #lol

[splashing-water]

by Andrey Nekrasov

#whales #beluga #photography #animals #marine biology

[frodo-of-the-nine-fingers]

i don't care if they aren't fish i'm asking should they be fish

#i think this is going to be a the girls that get it get it thing #polls #whales #fish #🐋

[elvhenfaer]

REALLY IMPORTANT PSA

THE 52 HERTZ WHALE HAS A FRIEND.

HE IS NOT THE LONELIEST WHALE IN THE WORLD.

MARINE SCIENTISTS HEARD TWO 52 HERTZ CALLS WITHIN TEN MINUTES OF ONE ANOTHER OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA.

I REPEAT: HE HAS A FRIEND. SOMEONE CALLED BACK.

#I’m not sobbing youre sobbing #52hertz #52 #the loneliest whale #marine animals #marine science #save the whales #whales