Whales

Find out everything there is to know about whales and stay updated on the latest whale news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and whale pictures at LiveScience.com. Learn more about these fascinating creatures as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries about whales.

Related Topics: Ocean, Extinction, Sharks

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A picture of an orca looking out of the water at sunset, off Kaldfjorden in Norway

Orcas are attacking boats near Europe. It might be a fad.

By Stephanie Pappas published

Orcas are snapping the rudders off boats near Europe, and it may be a cetacean fad.

The dead humpback whale with white skin on a beach near Mallacoota in Australia.

Extremely rare white humpback whale washes up dead on Australian beach

By Harry Baker published

A dead white humpback whale was recently found on a remote beach in Australia. However, experts say the animal is not an albino.

Beluga whales say hello to a camera aboard the beluga boat Delphi.

55,000 beluga whales are on the move, and you can watch their migration live

By Stephanie Pappas published

In celebration of Arctic Sea Ice Day (July 15), viewers can tune in to watch beluga whales frolic in Hudson Bay by the thousands.

In this illustration, giant sharks scavenge the enormous corpse of Livyatan, an extinct, enormous sperm whale that lived around 12 million years ago.

What was megalodon's favorite snack? Sperm whale faces

By Mindy Weisberger published

New analysis of fossil skulls from sperm whales that lived millions of years ago shows that numerous species of ancient sharks preyed on the whales … and ate their faces.

A dead beaked whale was found on a California beach with mysterious injuries around its jaw and face.

Mysterious dead beaked whale covered in unusual injuries washes up on California beach

By Harry Baker published

A dead beaked whale with mysterious injuries on its face recently washed up on a California beach. Experts are unsure why the animal died or even which species it belongs to.

A large group of sharks.

Spiraling vortex of 60 sharks rips apart a dead humpback whale in mesmerizing new video

By Harry Baker published

There were potentially even more sharks in the swarm.

A humpback whale breaching.

Breaching humpback whale body slams boat in Mexico, injuring everyone on board

By Harry Baker published

Local authorities suggest the young humpback did it on purpose.

A humpback whale calf plays near the ocean's surface off the coast of Tonga.

Rare white humpback whale spotted swimming with dolphins Down Under

By Harry Baker published

Video of the ghostly cetacean was captured by a local teenager using a drone.

A female orca bites chomps on the tongue of a blue whale.

Killer whales spotted for the first time killing blue whales

By Laura Geggel published

Killer whales can hunt and kill blue whales, according to three documented episodes in Australia.

A regular sperm whale swims near the ocean's surface.

Real-life Moby Dick spotted off the coast of Jamaica

By Harry Baker published

Sailors aboard a gas tanker spotted and filmed a rare encounter with a white sperm whale near Jamaica.

A humpback whale feeds off the coast of California

Baleen whales eat three times more than scientists once thought

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Baleen whales' eating habits trigger ripple effects through the entire ocean food web.

A beluga whale (not the Seattle visitor) photographed by Somerset Island in the Canadian High Arctic.

Lone beluga whale spotted 1,500 miles from home, and nobody knows why

By Laura Geggel published

It's a mystery why a beluga, normally an Arctic and subarctic whale, is swimming near Seattle.

The bloated carcass of a dead humpback whale washed up on a Staten Island shore on Sept. 17.

Dead humpback whale that beached in New York had human-caused injuries

By Mindy Weisberger published

A whale that was found belly-up on a New York beach likely died of injuries caused by interactions with people.

An illustration of the semiaquatic "god of death" whale.

Walking whale ancestor named after Egyptian god of death

By Laura Geggel published

Meet Phiomicetus anubis, a semiaquatic whale that lived in what is now Egypt 43 million years ago.

An illustration showing how the attack may have gone down, with a megatoothed shark biting the lower jaw of the sperm whale.

Megalodon's mortal attack on sperm whale revealed in ancient tooth

By Laura Geggel published

An ancient sperm whale tooth has gouge marks on it that may have come from an megalodon attack.

The carcass of a minke whale that washed ashore on a private beach in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Stranded minke whale stinks so bad it's like 'death in a dumpster'

By Stephanie Pappas published

A dead minke whale that washed ashore in a Massachusetts town smells so horrible that authorities plan to cart it to a landfill.

The pair of white orcas swim side by side off the coast of Rausu in Hokkaido, Japan on July 24.

In rare wildlife encounter, whale watchers spot two white killer whales off Japan

By Harry Baker published

Whale watchers in Japan recently saw a pair of white orcas swimming side by side in a pod off the coast of Hokkaido.

Marine experts believe the incident to be a complete fluke.

Humpback whale swallows lobster diver before spitting him out

By Ben Turner published

Humpback whales hunt by taking big lunges at groups of fish, so the encounter was likely a fluke.

A new population of pygmy blue whales has been discovered using nuclear bomb detectors.

Nuclear bomb detectors uncover secret population of blue whales hiding in Indian Ocean

By Harry Baker published

Scientists using sound recordings from underwater nuclear bomb detectors have discovered the distinct song of a previously unknown population of pygmy blue whales in the Indian Ocean.

A pod of transient orcas at the surface near where the encounter occurred..

Orcas 'attacked' humpback mother and calf. Now the calf is missing.

By Harry Baker published

Whale watchers in British Columbia recently witnessed a group of transient orcas attacking a humpback mother and calf in a rare encounter between the two species. But what really happened?