Whale’s Tale

Whale

Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and porpoises. Dolphins and porpoises may be considered whales from a formal, cladistic perspective. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla, which consists of even-toed ungulates. Their closest non-cetacean living relatives are the hippopotamuses, from which they and other cetaceans diverged about 54 million years ago. The two parvorders of whales, baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti), are thought to have had their last common ancestor around 34 million years ago. Mysticetes include four extant (living) families: Balaenopteridae, Balaenidae, Cetotheriidae, and Eschrichtiidae. Odontocetes include the Monodontidae, Physeteridae, Kogiidae, and Ziphiidae, as well as the six families of dolphins and porpoises which are not considered whales in the informal sense.

whale

Noun

1. Any large cetacean, usually with the exclusion of dolphins and porpoises.
2. Any species of Cetacea, including dolphins and porpoises.

Verb

1. To hunt for whales.

tale

Noun

1. A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.
2. A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.

Verb

1. To speak; discourse; tell tales.
2. To reckon; consider (someone) to have something.