Rorqual Whale Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum Common Name: Rorqual Whale Classification: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cetacea Family: Balaenidae Genus: Balaenoptera Species: laticeps Museum Location: Museum Floor Description: This is the largest group of baleen whales. The baleen plates are short and broad and are suspended from the maxillary bone. All of the members of the family have a series of longitudinal folds of skin running from below the mouth back to the navel. Powerful dorsoventral tail movements provide propulsion, and flippers (hands) are used for steering. The flippers have long digits or fingers--having more phalanges (bones) than the basic mammalian number. The hind legs are vestigial, do not attach to the axial skeleton, and are not visible externally. Habitat and Range: They are found worldwide most all major oceans but absent from the cold waters of the Arctic and Antarctic. Diet: They feed in cold waters, near edges of ice, on plankton and crustaceans known as "krill." Behavior: Usually solitary or in small groups. Communication: The sounds that they make can travel thousands of miles in deep water, leading to speculation that the whales may be able to communicate across oceans. Reproduction: Most rorquals breed in temperate waters during the winter, and then migrate back to the polar feeding grounds. Usually one calf is born. Twins have been reported on rare occasions. The time between births is usually 2-3 years. Gestation period is 10-11 months. Species Status: The number of rorqual whales has severely declined because of over-hunting. Unfortunately, man has hunted this family of remarkable whales to near- extinction. Interesting Facts: Rorquals take their name from a Norwegian word meaning "furrow whale." By Beata Tryniszewska