We built a pilot whale skeleton. We looked at pictures and diagrams to know how to do it. We used all the bones in the spine. The bones in the spine are called vertebrae. The whale has 7 vertebrae in its neck, just like us. All mammals have 7 neck vertebrae; even a giraffe! The vertebrae in the whale's tail have extra bones, called chevrons. The chevrons help the whales muscles to work better.
The whale's skull was huge! The holes on top of the whale's skull are its blowholes so it can breathe.
We were surprised to find out that whales have 5 phalanges, just like us! Whales have a scapula, just like us. Whales have ribs, just like us, but their ribs are much bigger.
The whale's skull was huge! The holes on top of the whale's skull are its blowholes so it can breathe.
We were surprised to find out that whales have 5 phalanges, just like us! Whales have a scapula, just like us. Whales have ribs, just like us, but their ribs are much bigger.
We saw baleen. Baleen is what is in the mouth of whales that don't have teeth. The orca tooth was really big!
Thank you to our PTA for getting us this wonderful program!
Thank you to our PTA for getting us this wonderful program!
3 comments:
I had so much fun putting together the whale bones. My favorite part was the otter skull.
Chantelle
I can not believe the amount of information Anthony has been coming home with everyday! He LOVES whales! Was he able to share his whale book from home with the class?
Yes Anthony shared his book with us!
Chantelle
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