KidZone Animals Whales: Teeth

"Humpback"; used with permission under CC BY-NC 2.0

Mysticeti whales don’t have teeth; instead, they have something called baleen. Think of baleen as a coffee filter or a kitchen strainer. You can ask your parents to see one if you don’t know what that is – you can play with it a bit to see how things like dried rice get stuck inside the strainer but water can still pass through. Baleen is a strong, but flexible material made from keratin, the same protein as hair and nails. It has lots of tiny, separate openings that perform like a filter.

Mysticeti whales take in big mouthfuls of water with their mouths open (but they don’t swallow it). Then they close their mouths and push the water out through their baleen plates. Because the baleen has such small openings, the water can escape but the small animals, like krill, get trapped inside. Now the whales can swallow all the trapped food. They repeat this process over and over again.

Some whales like the Blue, Gray, Humpback, and Right whales have baleen plates. These whales are called Mysticeti whales.

"Teeth of a Beluga Whale"; used with permission under the CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Some whales like the Sperm, Orca, Beluga, and Narwhal have sharp teeth. These whales are called Odontoceti whales.

Like odontoceti whales, we have teeth -- so we know what those are. Whales are carnivores like great white sharks and wolves, so all of a whale’s teeth are pointy and sharp. They use their sharp teeth for hunting their prey and for tearing flesh. Humans are omnivores so we have a combination of flat teeth for mushing up vegetables and sharp teeth for tearing into meat.

Leanne Guenther

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