How do adult whales, dolphins and porpoises eat?
Whales, dolphins and porpoises are all carnivorous. This meats they eat meat. But this food comes in many forms for them. Some species, like orca, eat seals and fish. Other species like sperm whales eat deep sea squid. Bottlenose dolphins also eat fish. Some species like humpback and southern right whale eat small animals called krill. To do this they have a special mouth design that is different from the others. Let’s explore this. The species that each fish and squid and other larger animals all have teeth. Scientists call this group Odontocetes. The species that east krill have s species filtering system in their mouth called baleen. They don’t have teeth. Scientists call these species Mysticetes. Look at the diagrams below to see the difference. Whales, dolphins and porpoises with teeth – the Odontocetes – catch their prey one by one and usually swallow whole or in large chunks. Most whales, dolphins and porpoises eat their food this way. A special group of 11 whales – the Mysticet
