CHAPTER XII : SPERM WHALES AND 

 BOTTLE-NOSED OR BEAKED WHALES. 



General features of Toothed Whales. Sperm Whale or 

 Cachalot. Pigmy Sperm Whale. Bottle-nosed or Beaked 

 Whales. Bottle-nosed Whale. Berardius. Cuvier's Beaked 

 Whale. Sowerby's Whale. Other species of Mesoplodon. 



The second of the two great divisions of the Cetacea — the 

 Odontoceti or Toothed Whales — includes all whales, dolphins 

 and porpoises which do not possess whalebone, but instead 

 are provided with teeth. Sperm Whales, Bottle-nosed or 

 Beaked Whales, Killer Whales, Pilot Whales, all the Dolphins 

 and Porpoises are placed in this group, but although teeth are 

 present in all of them, these are not always very obvious. The 

 range of variation in the number of teeth is very great ; forms 

 like the Common Dolphin have over 40 teeth on each side of 

 upper and lower jaw, while at the other end of the scale is the 

 Narwhal with one functional tooth so modified and enlarged 

 that it projects forward from the head as a tusk, which is 

 often more than 8 feet long. In the Beaked Whales the female 

 animals are apparently quite toothless because the pair of 

 teeth found in the lower jaw do not usually project through 

 the gums. 



Many other features besides the possession of teeth and the 

 absence of baleen distinguish the Toothed Whales, notably 

 the single blowhole and the small size of the mouth compared 

 with that of the Whalebone Whales. The skeleton also differs 



