Why Whales Lost Their Legs
Kiara Rojas
Honors Biology
INTRODUCTION
Millions of years ago, whales had legs. Pakicetus, the first whales, were land animals. Pakicetus does not resemble the whale at all from the outside but, they share a similar ear region that is unlike those of any other mammal. This discovery provided evidence that Pakicetus and whales are linked. The question is, why did whale lose their legs? Simulating a leg with and without legs in different water temperatures, this lab will help us find out the answer.
HYPOTHESIS
If I measure the different water temperatures in ziplock bags and a glove, the temperature will be higher in the ziplock bag because it has a greater surface area and more tactile points
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Use ice if you need to. Then, fill one beaker with 175 mL of water and the other with 350 mL. Warm the water in the 350mL beaker up to 55 degrees celsius and cool the water in the 175mL beaker to 15 degrees celsius, the same temperature as the pitcher because it will be your control group. Once the beaker that should be heated is at 55 degrees celsius, pour 175 mL of the water into a glove and pour the other 175 mL into a ziplock baggie. Pour the 15 degrees celsius, 175 mL of water into another ziplock baggie. Before you set these in water, have a stopwatch ready and make sure that the water in the baggies and glove is at the right temperature. It is very important for them to be or else your data will most likely be inaccurate. When everything is set to go, at the same time, start the stopwatch and put the baggies and glove in the pitcher. To make things easier, put a thermometer in each of the baggies, in the glove, and in the pitcher because each minute, you’ll be recording the temperature of the water in each item. Make sure that no other water gets into the baggies or glove so don’t let go of them and don’t close them because you must have the thermometer in each item. After 5 minutes, reset everything back to their temperatures and measurements and you can perform the experiment as many times as you
9) Trial E: Remove the syringe and empty the beaker. Add a Thermometer to the beaker. Add 200 mL of Room Temperature water to the beaker and heat with a Bunsen Burner until it reaches 100° C. Remove the Bunsen Burner. Repeat Steps 5 & 6.
Firstly the main apparatus was set up (a retort stand with a bosshead and clamp attached)
seltzer tablet into it, and as I did so I started the timer. When Alka
* Record how long it takes for each Ice Cube to melt completely, taking progress notes as you go. For instance, the percentage of the ice cube that has melted at 5 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.
Each student got a white tub and filled it up with tap water from the sink. Students were paired with two or three other people and formed their groups. Each group got 1 stopwatch, 1 thermometer, and also learned how to each other’s pulse. The temperature of the water used from the sink were adjusted beforehand to about 23°C; room temperature. Water temperature was not re-adjusted to be hotter or colder.
The Lab One was done on Laboratory Techniques and Measurements. The first experiment with my Lab partner; we got opportunity to experiment how to conduct measurements in length by using metric conversion. We started in cm units and changed into mm by x10, and moving decimal point x1 to right. To find in meter we moved from cm to meter two decimal points to the left or double check our self divided by 100 and all records in data table 1. The second experiment was to measure temperature of how cold and hot tap water can be by using thermometer in Celsius units. From this experiment, gained knowledge that tab water doesn’t boil to 100 Celsius related to containing different
Last Wednesday, July 8, beachgoers stumbled upon the carcass of a 2,000 pound beached whale on Long Island Beach. Since its discovery, experts from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research & Preservation who specialize in marine life have begun looking into the possible causes of death. The cause of the 12-foot minke whale’s death is being investigated because many wounds were present on its body, but it was unclear whether the bite-like wounds were inflicted before or after the creature’s death.
Compared to other baleen whales, the North Atlantic Right Whales are skimmers, which means that they use a combination of their baleen plates as well as movements from their mouths to strain out prey from the water. They usually feed on small organisms known as zooplanktons, which include cyprids and euphausiids. How Tracking Can Save These Animals The process used to track endangered whales, as seen here at NOAA Fisheries [http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/north-atlantic-right-whale.html], has been a challenging one to develop over the past several years. This is because this particular species of whale has no dorsal fin.
In the wild, it is unheard of to see orcas with collapsed dorsal fins but when people go to parks like SeaWorld every single orca has a collapsed fin. This is primarily due to their confined living environments limiting them to swim in small circles and the shallow tanks force them to spend more time at the water’s surface. If the whales are constantly above water, gravity will eventually cause their fins to collapse as they mature because there is no support of water to keep them up.
The species of whale called Eubalaena glacialis is apart of the Eubalaena family of whales (“Eubalaena Glacialis”), Informally known as the North Atlantic Right Whale, it has several similar species in the Eubalaena genus. The two other species of whales are called the eubalaena japonica which is is the Right Whale that lives off the coast of japan, and the eubalaena australis which is the Southern Right Whale mainly living near australia (“Eubalaena Glacialis”). The Eubalaena family of whales is similar to the Bowhead Whale and they both reside in the same family named Balaenidae. Like all whales, the North Atlantic Right whale is massive. According to Whale Facts, an adult whale can “reach lengths of 45-60 ft”.
The results of the experiment supported my hypothesis, which was that the foot without the sock would transfer more heat to the wooden surface than one with a sock. The foot with the sock transferred 1-2° less heat because the wool sock acted as an insulator. This trapped the heat in the sock and let less escape to the floor. One question that was brought up when doing this experiment was “why did one participant transfer more heat to the floor than the other?”. In future experiments showing relationships with heat transfer, using more than one body part would lead to more accurate results. Since feet are at the end of our limbs they don't have much muscle that produces heat. This means they cool down faster and the temperature of them can vary from person to person. Using several different parts of the body would give more results increasing the accuracy of the
4.Measure 35mL of warm water and add them into each of the 4 test tubes at about roughly the same time. It is essential that the water is warm. Do not seal the test tube.
The origin of modern day whales, a mystery that has puzzled paleontologists for years, may have just been solved with the discovery of an ankle bone. This discovery might sound simple and unimportant, but the bones of these ancient animals hold many unanswered questions and provide solid proof of origin and behavior. The relationship between whales and other animals has proven to be difficult because whales are warm-blooded, like humans, yet they live in the sea. The fact that they are warm-blooded suggests that they are related to some type of land animal. However, the questions of exactly which animal, and how whales evolved from land to water, have remained unanswered until now.
4. Remelt the contents of the tube and add the counterpart component based on the given schedule. Ask the demonstrator to adjust the cooling water between mixtures. During the experiment, record and plot the data obtained for all mixtures listed. The experiments are stopped as follows:
Length and Weight: The average length of a blue whale is 75 - 80 feet (23 - 24 meters) and these long marine mammals can weigh up to 200,000 pounds (90,000 kg). Whales in the southern hemisphere are generally larger than those in the northern hemisphere. One whale captured in the southern hemisphere measured 110 feet (33 meters) in length. Females are usually larger than males of the same age. Fins: A small triangular-shaped dorsal fin is located on the blue whale's back. This fin measures only one foot in height. The shape and size of the dorsal fin can be very different for each whale. The whale's flippers are short and the tail is broad and triangular in shape. During the summer feeding period, a blue whale eats about 40 million krill each day, amounting to about 3,600 kg (7,900 pounds). During the other 8 months of the year, it lives of stored fat not eating anything.The blue whale feeds by using its long flexible throat grooves to expand its throat and draws in water laden with the prey, then forces the water out through its baleen plates. The whale then swallows after the baleen plates filter out the prey organisms (most likely