Admin Table of Contents
Why is a whale shark not a mammal?
A whale shark is not a mammal; it is a fish — more specifically, a shark. Though whale sharks may behave like their gentle mammalian namesakes, they are in fact not mammals, but fish. Like other fish species, whale sharks are cold-blooded and breathe through gills that extract oxygen from water.
Is the whale shark the biggest mammal?
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) earns the name “whale” solely because of its size. Just as the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest living mammal*, the whale shark is the largest species of any fish, known to reach more than 40 feet in length.
What is bigger than the whale shark?
Yes! Blue whales, about 80 feet in length and over 250,000 pounds in weight, are much bigger than whale sharks. Blue whales are not the world’s largest fish, because they are not fish! Unlike other sharks, whale sharks don’t have their mouths on their undersides.
Is a whale shark bigger than a Megalodon?
The Megalodon has been compared to the whale shark (around 12.65 metres, or close to 41.50 feet) and the scientific community has determined that Megalodon was larger, based on both weight and length. Megalodon was also far bigger than the great white shark, which would only be around half of Megalodon’s size.
Why are sharks not mammals?
Sharks Are Not Mammals They don’t produce milk, they don’t have hair, and most of them are cold-blooded. The only characteristic they share with mammals is that some shark species give live birth.
What mammal is the biggest?
Blue whale
Mammal/Biggest
The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus ssp. Intermedia) is the biggest animal on the planet, weighing up to 400,000 pounds (approximately 33 elephants) and reaching up to 98 feet in length.
Why are there no fish as big as whales?
Pannevis suggested that the discrepancy in size between these two species might be a result of the way in which each takes up oxygen. The point to all of this is that whales (and mammals in general) have access to between 20 and 50 times more oxygen when breathing air than fish can extract from the water.