What is a cetacean creature?

1. Which animal is considered a cetacean?
2. What makes a cetacean?
3. What do you mean cetacean?
4. Is a shark a cetacean?
5. Are hippos cetaceans?
6. Is a dolphin a cetacean?
7. Are cetaceans fish or mammals?
8. Why is Dolphin a Cetacean?
9. Are cetaceans social creatures?
10. Is a sea lion a cetacean?
11. Are manatees cetaceans?
12. What characteristic is unique to cetacean creatures?
13. Is fish a cetacean?
14. What is the difference between cetaceans and fish?
15. What does a dolphin's teeth look like?

Which animal is considered a cetacean?

cetacean, (order Cetacea), any member of an entirely aquatic group of mammals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The ancient Greeks recognized that cetaceans breathe air, give birth to live young, produce milk, and have hair—all features of mammals.

What makes a cetacean?

A cetacean is a member of the family of large aquatic mammals such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. They have tails rather than hind limbs, and they have flippers instead of forearms. ... any of several whales having simple conical teeth and feeding on fish etc.

What do you mean cetacean?

: any of an order (Cetacea) of aquatic mostly marine mammals that includes the whales, dolphins, porpoises, and related forms and that have a torpedo-shaped nearly hairless body, paddle-shaped forelimbs but no hind limbs, one or two nares opening externally at the top of the head, and a horizontally flattened tail used ...

Is a shark a cetacean?

Sharks are part of the elasmobranch family, which includes sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish, while dolphins are part of the cetacean family, which includes toothed and baleen whales, as well as porpoises.

Are hippos cetaceans?

Whippomorpha or Cetancodonta is a group of animals that contains all living cetaceans (whales, dolphins, etc.) and hippopotamuses, as well as their extinct relatives.

Is a dolphin a cetacean?

Scientifically, all whales, dolphins and porpoises are classified as Cetacea. And within Cetacea are two suborders: baleen whales and toothed whales.

Are cetaceans fish or mammals?

Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are an order of mammals that originated about 50 million years ago in the Eocene epoch. Even though all modern cetaceans are obligate aquatic mammals, early cetaceans were amphibious, and their ancestors were terrestrial artiodactyls, similar to small deer.

Why is Dolphin a Cetacean?

Cetacean is the word used to describe all 90 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Cetacean has its origins in Latin (Cetus) referring to a large sea creature and Greek (Ketos) meaning whale or sea monster.

Are cetaceans social creatures?

Whales and dolphins (cetaceans) live in tightly-knit social groups, have complex relationships, talk to each other and even have regional dialects -- much like human societies. A major new study has linked the complexity of Cetacean culture and behavior to the size of their brains.

Is a sea lion a cetacean?

Marine mammals are classified into four different taxonomic groups: cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses), sirenians (manatees and dugongs), and marine fissipeds (polar bears and sea otters).

Are manatees cetaceans?

Dolphins are part of the taxonomic Order Cetacea, which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. It includes about 80 species. ... Manatees, on the other hand, are part of the much smaller Order Sirenia, with just four living species: West Indian Manatee, African Manatee, Amazonian Manatee and Dugong.

What characteristic is unique to cetacean creatures?

Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel themselves through the water with powerful up-and-down movement of their tail which ends in a paddle-like fluke, using their flipper-shaped forelimbs to maneuver.

Is fish a cetacean?

Cetaceans (sih-TAY-shuns) are a group of animals made up of about 90 different species, including porpoises, dolphins, and whales. Like fish, Cetaceans spend their whole lives in the water. But, like mammals, they need to come to the surface to breathe air.

What is the difference between cetaceans and fish?

A fish's tail is vertical and moves side to side while a cetacean's tail is horizontal and moves up and down. When you observe closely you will notice that cetaceans have one or no dorsal fins and two pectoral fins in addition to their caudal fin (tail), whereas fish tend to have several additional fins.

What does a dolphin's teeth look like?

Most dolphins have equal-sized conical shaped teeth in both upper and lower jaws (porpoises' teeth are spade-shaped) perfect for grasping fish and squid. Like most mammals, newborn dolphin teeth are still embedded in the gums.