How do whales hear each other?
There are two answers to this question, because there are two basic kinds of whales. Toothed whales use echolocation both to “see” underwater and to communicate. This would be dolphins and other toothed whales like sperm whales, orcas (killer whales) and belugas, among others. They have a “melon” on the front of their head that they use to focus the noises that they make. They make sounds by forcing air through passages and spaces in their head (like our sinuses) and then use this “melon” which is filled with a waxy oil to focus the sound in particular directions or to make it stronger. These whales are extremely sensitive to sound as well. They listen for the sounds that they send out to bounce off objects as well as other sounds that other creatures make. They hear using their jaw. Their lower jaw is hollow and has sensitive nerves that direct the vibrations back to their ears. (They don’t have external ears like we do.) The part of their brains that processes sounds is much larger t
