This poster features the most important whales of the world in excellent picture quality.
The animals are named in English, Latin, French, and German.
Length and approximate weight are stated, also their distribution and the degree to which they are endangered.
Whales (Cetacea) belong to the class of mammals. Apart from a few types of River Dolphins, all whales live in the ocean.
The colloquial term whale fish is misleading, as whales do not belong to the fish family.

Along with manatees, whales are the only mammals which have completely adapted to living in water.
They spend their whole lives in water and are not capable of surviving on land.
Beached whales dehydrate quickly, some die because their lungs are suffocated under their own weight; they may also die of heat shock because their bodies are so well insulated.

Whales are among the largest animals that have ever lived on earth.
The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) has a body length of 33, 5 meters (110 feet) end a body weight of 200 tons.
This makes it the largest known animal of all in the history of the earth.
The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest predatory animal living on earth.
By contrast, the smallest whales reach a length of 1, 50 meters (5 feet)

In the history of the earth, whales developed about 50 million years ago in the middle of the Eocene era. They are related to hippos.
Proof of this is to be found in studies using immunological, molecular, and genetic techniques. Some fossil finds certify the existence of ankle bones in ancient whale skeletons.
Some other reports and fossil discoveries confirm the contrary.

For around 40 million years, whales have lived in the ocean and have had no more connection with dry land.
The transition from land to water was therefore completed in the relatively short time of 10 million years.

Whales are threatened almost exclusively by man.

In Mythology, whales as such are scarcely accounted for. This is because they were identified with monsters and other large sea animals. That which the Prophet Jonas described was without doubt a whale. As Jonas was fleeing from the Lord’s assignment to prophesy the doom of Nineve, he was swallowed by a whale which eventually spat him out alive on the shores of Nineve. (Jonas 2.1-11)
Dolphins are found more frequently than whales in ancient history.
The Greeks venerated the dolphin as “King of Sea Creatures” and described him, mistakenly, as a fish.
Dolphins are often regarded as one of the Earth’s most intelligent animals.
Dolphins are common in Greek Mythology and were regarded as bringers of a good omen for a smoother sea voyage.
They were a part of Poseidon’s cortege and were instrumental in bringing Poseidon and his wife Amphitrite together.
But they are also associated with other Gods, for example Apollo, Dionysius, and Aphrodite.
The ancient Greeks valued both whale and dolphin highly enough as to give them their own constellations. Constellation Ketos, lat.Cetus (Whale) and Constellation Delphis, lat. Delphinus (Dolphin)

Size : 60 x 90 cm
Art Print on 230 g paper
Double Laminated.