Digestive system of humpback whales stretching like an accordion. They allow whales to open their mandible to 90 degrees to gulp water and prey. They expel saltwater through the baleen plates, leaving behind krill and plankton. The whale's tongue plays a vital role in filter feeding, as it is used to push the water out of its mouth while keeping the prey trapped in its baleen bristles. As humpback whales do not have teeth, their food is swallowed whole and travels down the esophagus into the preliminary stomach (known as the forestomach) to be ground. Baleen whales have a multi-chambered stomach, divided into three distinct
Baleen whale brain, where vibrations are processed into sound. Baleen whales have a small, yet functional, vomeronasal organ. This allows baleen whales to detect chemicals and pheromones released by their prey. It is thought that 'tasting' the water is important for finding prey and tracking down other whales. They are believed to have an impaired sense of smell due to the lack of the olfactory bulb, but they do have an olfactory tract. Baleen whales have few if any taste buds, suggesting they have lost their sense of taste. They do retain salt-receptor taste-buds suggesting that they can taste saltiness. Most species