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More About Whales ...
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Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic placental mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, just the largest ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea. This latter definition is the one followed within Wikipedia. Whales are those cetaceans which are neither dolphins (i.e. members of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidae) or porpoises. This can lead to some confusion as Orca (Killer Whales) and Pilot Whales have "whale" in their name, but are dolphins from the perspective of classification. Cetologists tend not to worry too much about making a distinction.
Like all members of the order, whales evolved from land mammals which returned to the sea undergoing aquatic adaptation, probably in the Eocene, between 55 and 34 million years ago. The precise ancestry of whales is still obscure, as there is no commonly agreed succession, but they are thought to have evolved from a group of carnivorous artiodactyla (even-toed hoofed animals). In 2001, two important 47-million-year-old partial fossils, named Rodhocetus balochistanensis and Artiocetus clavis, were discovered in Balochistan, Pakistan. These fossils represent intermediate forms between land-living ungulates and whales and are evidence that the whales' closest relatives on land might be hippos, which had been previously suggested by DNA studies. The first fully marine cetaceans, like Basilosaurus, appeared 40 million years ago.
Like all mammals, whales breathe air into lungs, are warm-blooded (i.e., endothermic), breast-feed their young, and have some (very little) hair. The whales' adaptions to a fully aquatic life are quite conspiciuous: The body is fusiform, resembling that of a fish. The forelimbs, also called flippers, are paddle-shaped. The end of the tail holds the fluke, which provides propulsion by vertical movements. Whales do not possess hind limbs, small bones inside the body are the only remains of the pelvis. Most species of whales bear a fin on their backs. Beneath the skin lies a layer of fat, the blubber. It serves as an energy reservoir and also as insulation. Whales have a four-chambered heart. The neck vertebrae are fused in most whales, whhich provides stability during swimming at the expense of flexibility. Whales breathe through blowholes, located on the top of the head so the animal can remain submerged. Baleen whales have two, toothed whales one blowhole. When breathing out after a dive, a spout can be seen from the right perspective, the shape of which differs among the species. Whales have a unique respiratory system that lets them stay underwater for long periods of time without taking any oxygen. Some whales, such as the Sperm Whale, can stay underwater for up to two hours in a single breath.
Whale females give birth to a single calf. Nursing time is long (more than one year in many species), which is associated with a strong bond between mother and young. In most whales reproductive maturity occurs late, typically at seven to ten years. This strategy of reproduction spawns few offspring, provided with a high rate of survival
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Source: Wikipedia Read more about Whales
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STOCK FOOTAGE DIRECTORY
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Humpback Whale
Cinenet
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Whale
Cinenet
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Blue Whale
In The Wild Productions
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Finback Whale
In The Wild Productions
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Humpback Whale
In The Wild Productions
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Minke Whale
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Pilot Whale
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Blue Whale
Ocean Stock Footage
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Gray Whale
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Humpback whale
Ocean Stock Footage
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Gray Whale
Quick Footage
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Humpback Whale
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Whale
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Humpback Whale
Footage World
alaska Visit Site
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Whale
Footage World
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Whale
Stock footage Online
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Whale
Footage Bank
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Whale
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Humpback whale
Howard Hall Productions
Humpback whales Visit Site
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Humpback whale
Howard Hall Productions
Humpback whales - mothers and calves Visit Site
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Goldfish
Global Cuts
Ask a diver to name a fish that personifies the Red Sea, and there's a good chance that the choice would be those ubiquitous little golden ones that hover in force around the reef. Feeding mainly on plankton in shallow waters makes the Goldfish (lyre-tail anthias) a great subject to shot. Here we had the time to bring a tripod with us so we could catch all this fish during 2 minutes and 15 seconds. You will see mainly orange-coloured females, as the purple males tend to be territorial and haremic.
This footage is shot with a 3CCD DV camcorder and is supplied in flattened QuickTime format. It is shot and captured in DV-PAL format dimensions, 720 x 576 pixels, at a frame rate of 25 fps.
Keywords: Goldfish, Lyre-tail Anthias, Sharm El-Sheik, Red Sea, Coral, Egypt, Middle East. Visit Site
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