WHALE Whale is the common name for marine mammals of the order Cetacea. For centuries, whales have been hunted for meat and as a source of raw materials. By the middle of the 20th century, however, industrial whaling had left many species seriously endangered, and whaling was ended in all but a few countries. Several organizations have been founded to try to eliminate hunting of whales and other threats to whales' survival. Like all mammals, whales breathe air into lungs, are warm-blooded, feed their young milk from mammary glands, and have hair, although very little. The whale body is fusiform. The forelimbs, also called flippers, are paddle-shaped. The end of the tail holds the fluke, or tail fins, which provide propulsion by vertical movement, unlike the horizontal movement of the tails of fish. Although whales generally do not possess hind limbs, some whales (such as sperm whales and baleen whales) have rudimentary hind limbs; even with feet and digits, hidden deep within their bodies. Most species of whale bear a fin on their backs known as a dorsal fin.

Whales breathe through their blowholes, located on the top of the head so the animal can remain submerged while breathing. Baleen whales have two; toothed whales have one. Breathing involves expelling excess water from the blowhole, forming a vertical spout. Spout shapes differ among species, and learning to recognize these shapes helps people identify them. The Blue Whale is the largest known mammal that has ever lived, and the largest living animal, at up to 35 m long and 150 tons. Whales generally live for 40–90 years, depending on the species, and on rare occasions live over a century.

Whales are widely classed as predators, but their food ranges from microscopic plankton to very large fish and, in the case of orcas, sometimes other sea mammals, even other whales. Whales do not drink seawater; instead, they indirectly extract water from their food by metabolizing fat. Because of their environment (and unlike many animals), whales are conscious breathers: they decide when to breathe. All mammals sleep, but whales cannot afford to become unconscious for too long because they might drown. It is thought that only one hemisphere of the whale's brain sleeps at a time, so that whales are never completely asleep, but still get necessary rest. Whales often sleep with only one eye closed. Some whales communicate with each other using lyrical sounds, called whale songs. These sounds can be extremely loud, depending on the species. Sperm whales have only been heard making clicks, because toothed whales (Odontoceti) use echolocation and can be heard for many miles. They can generate about 20,000 acoustic watts of sound at 163 decibels.

TIGE R The tiger (Panthera tigris) is a member of the Felidae family; the largest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera. Native to much of eastern and southern Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and an obligate carnivore. Reaching up to 3.3 metres (11 ft) in total length and weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds), the larger tiger subspecies are comparable in size to the biggest extinct felids.Aside from their great bulk and power, their most recognisable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes that overlays near-white to reddish-orange fur, with lighter underparts. The most numerous tiger subspecies is the Bengal tiger while the largest subspecies is the Siberian tiger.

Highly adaptable, tigers range from the Siberian taiga, to open grasslands, to tropical mangrove swamps. They are territorial and generally solitary animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey demands. This, coupled with the fact that they are endemic to some of the more densely populated places on earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans. Of the nine subspecies of modern tiger, three are extinct and the remaining six are classified as endangered, some critically so. The primary direct causes are habitat destruction and fragmentation, and hunting. Their historical range once stretched from Mesopotamia and the Caucasus through most of South and East Asia. Today it has been radically reduced. While all surviving species are under formal protection, poaching, habitat destruction and inbreeding depression continue to threaten the species.

Bibliography wikipedia.org animals.howstuffworks.com mattviews.wordpress.com irinovici.wordpress.com nw-seo.ning.com fromtheleft.wordpress.com hsu.edu southeasternoutdoors.com deniselindsayresearch.blogspot.com science.nature.nps.gov images.google.ro/imghp nearfamous.com mauriziovalentini.it

Project made by: Benţo Andrei Chiş Alexandra Deac Ioana Mariş Tabita Petrean Ana-Maria Suărăşan Ligia