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Why are whales not fish?
Whales are not fish because they are warm-blooded mammals that breathe with lungs and feed their babies milk.
Whales live in the sea, but they are not fish. They may look like fish, but inside they are very different. Whales are mammals, just like dogs, cats, and people.
Fish take in oxygen from the water using gills. Whales have lungs instead. They swim up to the top of the water to breathe, taking in and letting out air through a hole on their back. That is why a whale cannot stay underwater forever — it always has to come back up.
Fish are cold-blooded, which means their body heat changes with the water around them. Whales are warm-blooded, so their body stays the same temperature all the time. Whales are also not born from eggs. They grow inside their mother and are fed her milk when they are little. Fish do not do this at all.
Quick facts
- Whales breathe with lungs, not gills.
- Whales have to come up to the top of the water to breathe.
- Whales are warm-blooded, so their body temperature stays the same.
- Baby whales drink their mother's milk.
- Fish are cold-blooded and breathe with gills.
- Whales have a hole on their head for breathing air.
Check what you remember
4 questions — all of them come from the quick facts above. There is no score and no wrong turn.
1. What do whales use to breathe?
2. How do baby whales get fed?
3. What do whales have to do to breathe?
4. What does a fish's body temperature depend on?
Where this comes from
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1 tr.wikipedia.org 85/100Whale - Wikipedia
This gives general and trustworthy information about whales.
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2 tr.wikipedia.org 80/100Mammals - Wikipedia
This explains what mammals are and why whales count as one.
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3 britannica.com 75/100Whale | Britannica
This gives encyclopedia-quality, accurate facts about whales.
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