Marine Mammal Photos

Note: Flash was not used to photograph live marine mammals, since it could disturb them. Kodak Ultra Gold 1000 speed was used instead, and the picture quality was surprisingly good for this high-speed film. (1000 speed and above is often noticeably grainy.) Since the former whales (or their components) don't care, flash was used.

Beluga whale, Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Illinois 4/9/98, Kodak Ultra Gold 1000. The whale has a prominent melon (fatty acoustic lens for focusing sonar) whose movements are sometimes visible.	Jaw of Pacific Whitesided Dolphin, Shedd Aquarium. The needlelike teeth are used to grip slippery fish.
Sperm whale lower jaw, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. The jaw is 10 or 12 feet (3 to 3.5 meters) tall.	Beluga Whale skeleton, Field Museum. Note the handlike flipper bones. Since whales are mammals (which evolved from land mammals), their skeletal features are similar. Some whales have vestigial hipbones, where the hind legs were once attached.
Black Right Whale jaw, Field Museum of Natural History. The baleen (whalebone) plates connect to the single upper bone.	Black Right Whale body, seen from the front. Field Museum of Natural History. Note the handlike bones; that's what they are (the bones of the flippers).

Marine Mammal Photos

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