I just watched a segment of Planet Earth.
This one Whale opened his gigantic mouth and intook lots of water and fishes. I'm pretty sure that whale wasn't thirsty, how do they remove all that water in their mouths when their submerged in water?
Fascinating creatures whales are!
2007-07-12 14:37:00 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Whales are filter feeders and sieve the water through baleen. Some whales have lost their teeth and have baleen instead which hangs like a large comb from the upper jaw. They gulp water and food together and then push the water back out of the mouth through the baleen. The food is caught on the 'teeth' of the baleen and stays in the mouth where it is licked off and swallowed.
www.dkimages.com/.../Baleen-Plates-1.html
www.sfgate.com/.../1997/dec/prl_nature.html
Baleen whales belong to the suborder Mysticeti and do not develop teeth. Instead, they have evolved comblike structures in their mouths called a baleen (early whalers called it whalebone.) This dense fringe of blade-shaped, horny plates hangs down from the roof of the mouth and acts as a filter. Baleen whales feed mostly on plankton. They normally feed by swimming with their mouths open and gulping in water and fish. From :
www.whalesfilm.com/baleen.htm
2007-07-12 18:58:21 · answer #1 · answered by mindoversplatter 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Same way you would, they spit it out.
What you probably saw was a baleen whale feeding. They take a gulp of water and expell it through a set of filter plates that strain out the small organisms on which they feed.
2007-07-12 21:42:52 · answer #2 · answered by Irv S 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
They use their tongues to push the water out.
2007-07-12 21:41:50 · answer #3 · answered by Manjinder N 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Same as humans do. They are mammals. They pee it out.
2007-07-12 21:40:52 · answer #4 · answered by gordc238 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋