Millions of years ago, whales lived on land and walked on four legs.
Today, whales still have small hones that are the remains of their hind legs, but these bones can only be seen on the inside of the whale. No one knows why whales left the land to live in the water.
However, scientists can imagine that when the whales changed their environment, their bodies underwent a change--taking on a more fish-like appearance. This new form offered less resistance to the water, enabling the whales to swim faster.
Despite their fish like form, whales are not fish. A whale will drown,just as a man will, if it stays under water too long. When a whale is under water, it closes its nostrils tightly and holds its breath. The air in its lungs becomes very hot and full of water vapor. When the whale rises to the sur-face and exhales, its hot breath produces a column of water vapor that rises high in the air. A man produces the same effect when he exhales warm air on a cold morning.
Whales are Classified as mammals because they bear their young, rather than laying eggs, and because the mother whales give the babies milk. Like other mammals, whales have warm blood. Their blood stays at the same temperature, even when they move from hot to cold water. They keep warm in cold water because they have a thick layer of fat just under their skins.
This fat is called blubber, and it is thicker on whales that spend their lives in cold water. Almost all land manmals, except man, have hair on their bodies to keep them warm, but whales, which have very few hairs, are kept warm by their fat.