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More on Whales
More Cloze Activities
Whales and Dolphins:
Cloze Activity Answers
Fill in the blanks below using words from the word bank.
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Word Bank:
migrate

swimming

dinosaur

baleen

milk

spyhopping

pods

mammals

echolocation

fluke

logging

heart

blooded

tail

predators

left and right


Whales and dolphins are marine mammals, intelligent animals that spend their entire lives in the water. They have streamlined bodies that are adapted to swimming efficiently in the seas. Their muscular, double-lobed tail (each lobe is called a fluke) propels them through the water, moving up and down (unlike a fish's tail, which moves left and right). Like all mammals, they breathe air, have hair, are warm-blooded, have a four-chambered heart, and feed their babies milk.

Whales and dolphins are called cetaceans; there are over 75 species of cetaceans. Cetaceans are divided into two groups, toothed whales (which includes the orca, dolphins, etc.) and baleen whales (which includes the blue whale, humpback whale, gray whale, etc.). Toothed whales are fast swimmers, and eat fish and other marine animals, finding them using echolocation (a series of whistles and clicks used to sense objects) and using their teeth to catch their prey. Baleen whales are slow swimmers that eat tiny organisms, sieving them from sea water using baleen, a comb-like structure in the mouth.

The biggest whale is the blue whale, which grows to be about 94 feet (29 m) long; this is the height of a 9-story building. Adult blue whales have no predators except man. This whale is the largest animal that has ever existed on Earth - it is more massive than any dinosaur! It is also the loudest animal on Earth. The smallest whale is the dwarf sperm whale which, as an adult, is only 8.5 feet (2.6 m) long.

Many whales are social animals, living in groups called pods. Many species, like the gray whale, migrate long distances each year, traveling from rich feeding areas to safe breeding waters. Some whales jump high out of the water, slapping the surface on the way down -- this is called breaching. Spyhopping is an activity in which the whale pokes it head out of the water and spins around. Lobtailing is when a whale sticks its tail out of the water and then slaps the water, making a very loud sound. Logging is when a whale floats at the surface of the water, motionless.


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