Explain why whale being mammal can't live on land?

Answer 1

Well, it could, but it wouldn't be able to move.

Beached whales do not die quickly like fish would, they are able to breath and will live for quite some time. The problem is they would not be able to move and get food, and like most of us, we would not do well if forced to lay in one place forever. Even if you brought him food and water, he would probably go crazy, and quite probably would not eat.

If you have ever seen a beached whale, you may have seen people hosing him down. This is because their skin is very sensitive to the sun and is not made to dry out, and could crack and become very painful, adding to the problem.

So pretty much, if they had fur to protect their skin, and could move around, they could probably chill out on land just like seals or sea lions.

Answer 2

Being a Mammal has not automatically given tothe Whale the ability to survive on land. Its breathing system is predominantly Skin and Grill oriented and it would die for want of Oxygen when suddenly brought to the shore..Perhaps in some distant future,whale populations may be forced by circumstnces to live in shallower waters and get used to lower water pressures and repeated exposures to Atmosphere. Then their lungs will develop better for direct breathing instead of through dissolved Oxygen absorbed through the Gills and skin.
The next worry is of movement on Earth surface. With no developed legs, it will become prey for predators.

Every change has its time and the one for Whales is yet to come. Who knows? It might be that they escaped the threats from the Earth surface and opted to stay on in water and that is how they lost their legs and the Direct breathing Lungs!

Answer 3

Whales dont have the skeletal structure to walk on land. The whale would also need to learn to walk and walk upright like a human or it should crawl. Ever seen a beached whale ? They cant get back to the ocean because they're too dam big and fat !

Answer 4

Because that is not a requirement of being a mammal, there are many things that determine wether something is a mammal or not.

All Mammals (Including whales):
Are vertebrates (Have a spinal column)
Breath air into lungs
Produce milk for their young
Do not lay eggs
Are warm blooded
Have hair (Often very little!)

I believe there is more, but essentially you need to meet those requirements to be a mammal, it has nothing to do with if you fly, swim or live on land or live in space for that matter.

Answer 5

At one point in their evolutionary history whales did live on land. But have adapted to life in the ocean and have lost their ability to be land dwelling.

But they have retained the basic mammal characteristics: hair, live young, warm blood, milk for their young

Answer 6

I think the reason why whales, even though they are mammals, can't live on land is because they have fins rather than legs. Also, perhaps they must always have moisture on their bodies, so they have to stay in the water.

Answer 7

i'm no fan of the thought of Evolution, yet in my day, we've been taught that land-living creatures progressed from aquatic creatures- has that replaced, or have I misremembered by some potential? What approximately Otters, and the Duck-Billed Platypus? what's it that somebody is predicted to "clarify?" If people got here from apes, why are there nonetheless apes?

Answer 8

whales have a denies strutter while living in water that is minimize. when a whale is out of water it feels it true mass cosing the body of whale to be able function under this new pressure and in short crushing it's self.

Answer 9

because even though it is a mammal . it is designed to live in the water. And since it is designed to live in the water it has special skin
built to live in the water and if you take it out of the water, the skin dries up, or something else happens to it and the whale eventually dies . If you leave a human in water for long enough time (even if he has lifetime supply of oxygen) , his skin will not last and hell die . (i think)

Answer 10

of course they can for about a few hours or so,maybe longer when they come ashore, the weight makes it so they cant breath. the pressure makes it so they just can not take a breath,there skin gets sun burned,and they dry up. someday they may come up with artificial legs for them since we're polluting the oceans and seas,and those darn Japs or still killing 1000s of them each year, the dirty no good trashy human scum sucking well anyway. we can put some in zoos then with artificial legs?or make real large aquariums.? I pray for the animals.The Chinese White river dolphin was declared extinct two weeks ago,after swimming in that river for millions of years the dirty no good ........ well. we will exterminate ourselves if we don't slow down on the polluting of our environment.Peace.