Re: If a whale is a mammal where is its hair or fur?

Hi Craig

Scientific classification: The class Mammalia is usually divided into three subclasses: the Monotremata (Prototheria, or egg-laying, mammals; the Marsupialia (Metatheria), or marsupial, mammals; and the Placentalia (Eutheria), or placental, mammals.

Whales are mammals. They breath air, have hair (calves have hairs around the front of their heads), are warm blooded, and give birth to live offspring that suckle milk from their mothers Mammary Glands, glands that produce milk, which all mammals have. In most mammals, the glands are developed only in mature females. Hormones secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, and the ovaries regulate the development of mammary glands; milk production is under the control of the other pituitary hormones.

Hair is a feature unique to mammals; no other animals on earth have it (even though we sometimes refer to spiders' legs as "hairy," spiders and other non-mammals lack true hair).

Usually, mammals are covered with fur, although the length and coarseness of the hairs varies. Notable exceptions to this rule are whales, dolphins, and porpoises. These mammals are entirely aquatic, spending all their time in water, and they don't have fur because hairs create drag in the water. Olympic swimmers recognize this fact, and they frequently shave their entire bodies to help them swim faster. So Whales really do have hair but it is so thinned out it can't be seen unless examined very close.

Hope this helps and if you're ever in Hawaii in the winter months you can see them up close almost every day.

Ken Isham
Ocean Aquatics
Hawaii