Whales are a large family of marine mammals, including dozens of cetaceans of various sizes, mainly divided into two main groups, baleen whale suborder and toothed whale suborder. There are 4 families and 15 species of baleen whales, the largest is the blue whale, which we know from a very young age, the blue whale is the largest animal in existence and the largest mammal in history. There are many kinds of toothed whales, the largest of which is the sperm whale, which is famous for its ability to produce a precious spice called ambergris in its body, and its appearance is very recognizable, with a huge head that resembles a submarine.
Cetacean members/images are from the web
There is the largest of course there is the smallest, but how to determine the smallest species is a big problem, in the vast ocean to find a small head whale difficult to imagine, so many people do not know the smallest baleen whale and tooth whale is which two, I consulted a lot of information after comparison, barely determined these two whales, may have errors in the data, please forgive me.
<h1>The smallest baleen whale</h1>
Minke whales versus divers
The smallest baleen whales are generally considered minke whales, but minke whales are only the smallest species of baleen whales in the suborder Baleenidae, not the smallest members of the baleen whale suborder. Minke whales, also known as small snapper whales, pointed-billed whales, are also known as horned whales because of the white transverse bands on the pectoral fins. Adult minke whales are 9 m long and weigh 13.5 tonnes at large, making them moderate in size among cetaceans. Minke whales are found in the northern hemisphere, with populations of about 200,000 to 300,000 head, so they are common and are hunted in large numbers.
Stranded baby right whales
The smallest baleen whale is actually a small right whale, the only one of the baleen whale suborder Minor right whales, with a bow-like head shaped like a right whale, and the overall morphology is closer to that of the baleen whale family. Although it was discovered and named in 1846, it has been little known to humans for more than a hundred years, as small right whales live in the middle and high latitudes of the southern hemisphere and are generally difficult to see.
Nicknamed dwarf whales, the Baby Right whale is only 6.45 meters long and weighs about 3-3.5 tons, which is almost the same as the great white shark, but it is undoubtedly the smallest member of baleen whales. The skulls of small right whales are most similar to those of the neomake family, which became extinct 2 million years ago, and are therefore thought to be the only surviving members of the family Neomake. Minke whales used to be the main food for Melville whales and megalodon sharks.
<h1>The smallest toothed whale , the Vagitta Orga Bay porpoise</h1>
The smallest baleen whales are more than 6 meters long and weigh up to 3 tons, which is already a large size among toothed whales. There are many types of toothed whales, mainly beaked whales, dolphins, porpoises, killer whales are the largest dolphins, and the Yangtze River porpoise is a member of the porpoise family, and the smallest toothed whales also belong to this family.
Kawan porpoises versus humans
We search online for "the smallest toothed whale" or "the smallest cetacean" and get two answers: Vajita and Gawan Porpoise. After careful comparison, we will find that in addition to the different sizes of these two animals, the other descriptions are almost identical, and the English name of the Bay Porpoise is Vaquita, which translates to Vajita, and there is no Vajita in CITES Appendix I and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, only the Gawan Porpoise. So I speculate that Vajita is the Bay Porpoise! Vajita may have originated from network misinformation.
Dead Bay Porpoise
The Kawan porpoise, also known as the small-headed porpoise, is 1.2-1.4 meters long and weighs 30-55 kg in adults, making it the most endangered marine mammal at present, with an estimated 60 left in 2015 and possibly less than 20 in existence! The Kawan porpoise is about to become the second cetacean to die at the hands of humans! The Bay of Cavan porpoises only live in the Gulf of California, although the Mexican government set up a shelter more than a decade ago and paid 30 million US dollars to compensate the fishermen, but also failed to save this creature, the number of more than a decade fell by 95%, the extinction of the Bay Porpoise has been unable to return to the sky!
The smallest surviving baleen whale is the small right whale, and the smallest toothed whale and cetacean are the critically endangered Bay Porpoise. Whales have dominated the oceans for tens of millions of years, but they have been hunted and interfered with by humans who are only tens of thousands of years old, and one day, nature's punishment will be unbearable.
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