To give you a better idea of how long it takes for whales to reproduce once impregnated, here are the gestation periods of various whale species:. Note : Killer whales are part of the dolphin family and are the largest among the dolphin species. They are not whales, as their name may suggest. As you can see, there is a large variation in terms of the gestation periods of different cetaceans.
While this may not be the case, it appears that whales who follow regular migrations from their mating grounds to their feeding grounds tend to have a gestation period of around 11 — 13 months, while species that do not have a particular mating location or live in the same environment throughout the year may have more sporadic gestation lengths.
This may make sense as whales that travel from cold environments to warm tropical areas between seasons need to maintain a seasonal gestation length to not give birth in an unnatural location for their reproductive needs. Average gestation period So how long is the average gestation period for a whale?
Gestation period comparisons To give you a better idea of how long it takes for whales to reproduce once impregnated, here are the gestation periods of various whale species: Minke Whale : 10 months females average 1 offspring about every 2 years.
Males also have a kind of song that may be used to court females, she said. Blue whale mating has never been documented, Sears said. As with other whales, it's probably a very brief encounter, with the male inserting his penis into the female's vagina for less than a minute.
Interestingly, humpback whales, which are closely related to blue whales, are known to engage in threesomes, with two males penetrating a female at the same time. It's unknown if blue whales perform similar sexual acts.
You might not know if a portly manatee is pregnant simply by looking at the animal, but this gentle giant carries its young for nearly 13 months. Lounging around in the water all day helps to relieve some of the extra weight, but a manatee mother is still owed plenty of respect for her patience.
Camels are known for their stubborn and crabbish personalities, but consider this: camels have a gestation period of 13 to 15 months. The month in which conception occurred can shift the birthdate, with November conceptions pushing the birth 18 days longer than a May conception. Other camelids, such as llamas, also have a long gestation period — about days.
Giraffes have gestation periods anywhere from to days. Despite being the tallest land animal in the world, the mother gives birth standing up — so the baby needs to be big enough to brace for a long fall. Interestingly, the fall is typically what bursts the embryonic sac. With lions and other predators abound, the world is a dangerous place for baby giraffes when they first come into the world — part of the reason for the long delay.
Not all animals with long gestation periods are large mammals. There are some worm-like animals that bear live young, including the velvet worm. This bizarre-looking creature carries its young for as long as 15 months.
Despite the name, they aren't true worms and they aren't made of velvet. Their bodies are covered with sensory hairs, which gives them a velvety appearance. They are considered close relatives of both arthropods spiders and insects and true worms like the earthworm — making them especially interesting to paleontologists. It might not come as a surprise that rhinos — because of their sheer size — are next on the list with a gestation period of about 15 to 18 months, depending on the species.
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Yes, double my impact! It is hard to envision the enormous size of a blue whale. As the largest animal on Earth, blue whales are about the length of three school buses, their heart alone is the size of a small car and they weigh on average , to , pounds.
There are records of individuals growing to over feet long. Blue whales are named for their gray coloring, which appears light blue in the water. Cold water diatoms adhere to their skin and sometimes give their bellies a yellowish tinge, giving the blue whale its nickname of "sulfur bottom. Blue whales are long and have a streamlined shape, with an extremely small dorsal fin and long pectoral flippers.
Blue whales are rorqual whales, which is a family of baleen whales with pleated throat grooves that expand when the animal takes in water while feeding. In blue whales, 55 to 68 throat grooves extend from the throat to their navel, and their baleen is black with over plates.
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