Gentle Giants

Both whales and porpoises are intelligent mammals who, millions of years ago, decided to evolve from a land critter back to one of the sea. That was an interesting return to life's origins—the sea. All of life began in the oceans and for a few billion years resided solely there, until some fish-like creatures crawled up on land, over 350 million years ago, and took up residence as terrestrial animals. Over time, mammals and many other species of animals evolved from those primitive, limbless, cold-blooded vertebrates; and then even later some of them (whales and porpoises) decided to return to the seas.

Whales subsequently evolved to become the largest animals on the planet—especially the blue whale, which at some 110 feet (33 m) long and 150 tons (136,000 kg), is the largest critter ever. Porpoises and dolphins are related to whales—both of which are often defined as “small-toothed whales.” The porpoise has a blunt snout and the dolphin a beaklike snout. Whales, dolphins, and porpoises are also called cetaceans, which is derived from the Greek word ketos, “whale.”

What's more, these cetaceans are very intelligent creatures, whose languages are far more complex than our simple human communication. Yes, that's right... their language is much more intricate than ours. In fact, the density of the information in their songs is such that they can transmit up to 10 million bits of data every half hour. That's about the same amount of information contained in Homer's Odyssey. So, within a half hour, they sing to each other the same amount of data that takes us a few days to read. Pretty smart, eh?

It seems sadly paradoxical that we humans have hunted down and slaughtered millions of whales, over the centuries. We obviously don't take into consideration their intelligence or their sophisticated communication, when we kill them. We don't view them as bright creatures—just as food.

What I find fascinating is that whales, being so much larger and more powerful than humans, have not used their advanced communication and brainpower to revolt and declare war on us. Scuba divers swim around whales that are up to 20 times larger and outweigh them by tens of thousands of times—yet aren't harmed. One flip of that powerful whale tail and the human is extinguished. Yet when we are in the water with them, cetaceans are overwhelmingly friendly.

Why should they be so gentle? Given how badly we've treated them, I find it remarkable that they've not turned on us. Why do they not perceive us as their enemy? They must be able to comprehend all the harm we've done to them. If they had chosen to battle us, we long ago would either have made peace with them, or eliminated them entirely—which we've done with many large land mammals. It seems to me that we could use a few lessons in nonviolence from these gentle giants. Too bad we're not smart enough to understand their language. They'd probably have a few useful things to tell us.

Whale of a Cousin

Only three species on planet Earth have evolved the process of going through menopause—wherein females continue to live many years after they have stopped reproducing. Two of these species are whales (killer whales and short-finned pilot whales) and the third is humans. For these three menopausal species, females quit reproducing in their 40s, but can continue living into their 90s. 

Why are these three dissimilar species so similar in this way? What could be the reason for menopause—or what is its advantages for a species—when the usual drive for a species to survive is to reproduce as much as possible, as long as possible, and pass their genes into the future? (If there was no reproductive advantage to menopause, it would not have evolved.) What use can old females have to their whale pods or human societies? Do we really need “old ladies”?

None of the great apes—with whom we share about 99% of our DNA—go through menopause. Old female apes stay fertile all their lives and live only to about 40 years of age. So again the question arises, why do old-lady whales (much more distant from us, DNA-wise) and humans quit having babies? I find it fascinating that it’s just the whales and us.

The answer of “why menopause?” seems to be due to the social structures that have evolved for these two types of mammals—structures that are unique to killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, and Homo sapiens. There are likely two answers as to why menopause is useful: (1) keeping female elders around is important because they can share their knowledge and expertise of how to find food and safety, thereby continuing to help the species thrive, and (2) by giving up having more offspring, they can avoid reproductive competition with their daughters—so as to give the grandchildren of these long-living species a better chance at life. 

Continued survival of the species is what it’s all about. Resources in a group’s environment may be limited, so overcrowding does not help the species stay fit and robust.  Older females who quit having babies help to limit crowding. Additionally, useful and novel gene permutations (which younger females are more likely to create) must be allowed a chance to propagate into the future, which creates evolutionary progress.

So the grandmother humans and whales willingly and wisely step aside, passing the reproduction game on to their daughters. Crones can be an invaluable source of community knowledge and tradition. 

Males of these species can also possess valuable knowledge, but the females are more socially connected and pass more information on more effectively.