Baleen this issue. A whale's baleen plates play the most important role in its filter-feeding process. To feed, a baleen whale opens its mouth widely and scoops in dense shoals of prey (such as krill, copepods, small fish, and sometimes birds that happen to be near the shoals), together with large volumes of water. It then partly shuts its mouth and presses its tongue against its upper jaw, forcing the water to pass out sideways through the baleen, thus sieving out the prey, which it then swallows. People formerly used baleen (usually referred to as "whalebone") for making numerous items where
Old Tom (killer whale) Old Tom (killer whale) Old Tom ( 1895 – 17 September 1930) was a killer whale (orca) known to whalers in the port of Eden on the southeast coast of Australia. Old Tom measured 22 feet (6.7 m) and weighed 6 tons, with a 1.02 m skull and teeth about 5.31 inches (13.4 cm) long. Old Tom was thought to be the leader of a pod of killer whales which helped the whalers by herding baleen whales into Twofold Bay. The whalers then allowed the killer whales to eat the tongues and lips as their share of the kill, a