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As whales reach the water surface to breathe, they forcefully expel air through the blowhole. The exhalation is released into the comparably lower-pressure, colder atmosphere, and any water vapor condenses.
Feb 6, 2012 · The whales were coaxed from breathing hole to breathing hole, slowly moving out toward the open ocean. Operation Breakthrough. On the other side of the frozen ice, a Soviet icebreaker...
Aug 26, 2021 · The location of their “nose”, the blowhole, on the top of their head allows them to exchange breathing air efficiently during the sometimes brief surfacing. But how does the blowhole of whales and dolphins actually get on top of the head?
Mar 18, 2008 · Nasal Drift in Early Whales Whales breathed with more ease when they no longer had to lift a snout above water. The nostrils migrated upward toward the top of their head, as ancient whales spent more time immersed in the water. Blowholes help to distinguish modern forms of whales.
While baleen whales, such as blues and humpbacks, have a pair of blowholes, equivalent to our own paired nostrils, sperm whales, dolphins and other toothed whales have just one. This is derived from the left nostril; the right one opens internally.
Whales cannot breathe through their mouth because, unlike terrestrial mammals, their digestive system and respiratory system are not connected. The blowhole leads to the nasopharynx, or nasal duct.
Both baleen and toothed whales breathe through blowholes--the whale’s version of nostrils. The telltale spouts that are formed on the surface occur when whales expel warm air that meets colder air on the surface and condenses into small water droplets. (Andrew Russell, Flickr)
