Whale a large tail fin, and flat heads (with the exception of monodontids and ziphiids). Whale skulls have small eye orbits, long snouts (with the exception of monodontids and ziphiids) and eyes placed on the sides of its head. Whales range in size from the and dwarf sperm whale to the and blue whale. Overall, they tend to dwarf other cetartiodactyls; the blue whale is the largest creature on earth. Several species have female-biased sexual dimorphism, with the females being larger than the males. One exception is with the sperm whale, which has males larger than the females. Odontocetes, such as
Right whale single female, suggesting that sperm competition is an important factor in mating behavior. Although the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, the testes of the right whale are actually ten times larger than those of the blue whale – with each weighing up to , they are by far the largest of any animal on Earth. Gestation tends to last a year, and calves are born at in weight and in length. Weaning occurs after eight months. Right whales were a preferred target for whalers because of their docile nature, their slow surface-skimming feeding behaviors, their tendency