Hey so you may know that some whales have teeth while others have baleen.
But did you know what baleen actually looks like
These goddamn fringe tassel things coming out of this Bowhead Whale's mouth are baleen plates.
LOOK AT THIS GODDAMN THING
(that's a decapitated whale from an Inupiat whale harvest. They use the baleen in crafts apparently and a lot of people feast from the blubber of 1 whale. also scientists are involved and allowed to take organ samples.
BUT WHAT IN THE HECk
Whales man.
what the hell.
I've literally been spending the last 3 hours reading and watching videos on whales and giant/colossal squids.
WHta the fuck nature.
Did you know that some whalers opened a bowhead and found harpoons in it that was super old?? that's when they were like 'yoo how old is this whale'. Turns out, these big ass underwater mammal things can live longer than 200 years!!!!! and they super rarely get cancer. Scientists are like studying their genome to see if it can help us treat/prevent cancer in humans
Oh btw the baleen is the thing that toothless whales use to eat, They take a mouthful of water, then push the water out of the baleen leaving the tiny animals inside. the whale then scrapes the food bits off the baleen with their tongue to eat.
