Digestive system of humpback whales Digestive system of humpback whales The digestive system of humpback whales ("Megaptera novaeangliae") is adapted to digest tiny crustaceans such as krill, plankton, and small fish (including herring and mackerel) which the whale filters from the ocean using its baleen, a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw. Humpback whales belong to the parvorder baleen whales, which are carnivorous, seasonal feeders. The baleen, a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw made of keratin, is used to filter plankton, among other food sources, from the water. Ventral grooves are expandable concave furrows that line a whale's throat and have the peculiarity of
Baleen basketry after whaling ended and before the intensification of the North American fur trade. so this is one of the youngest basketry traditions in North America. Kinguktuk (1871–1941, also spelled "Kiŋaqtaq" in Iñupiaq; and his wife: "Qusraaq") is recognized as the first baleen basketmaker with his first pieces made between 1914 and 1918 in Barrow. He was perhaps the only baleen basketmaker as late as 1931. Today, most baleen basketmakers live in Point Hope, Alaska. Kinguktuk's early baskets were woven in the single-rod coiling of their willow-root prototypes, and already had starter pieces, the perforated ivory discs used to attach beginning