Minke whale

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/minke-whale

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Balaenoptera acutorostrata (Northern Minke Whale) and Balaenoptera bonaerensis (Southern Minke Whale)
2. What is the lifespan?Estimated to be around 50 years in the wild
3. Why are there two kinds of Minke whales?Scientists have found two species: the Northern Minke Whale and the Southern Minke Whale. They look alike but live in different parts of the world, with the northern one in the North Atlantic and Pacific and the southern one near Antarctica.
4. How do Minke whales eat their food?They use a lunge‑feeding trick: they speed toward a school of fish or krill, open their mouth wide, swallow a huge splash of water, and then push the water out through their baleen plates, keeping only the tiny prey.

Species Complex: A group of closely related species that are difficult to distinguish from one another, often due to recent evolutionary divergence.
Balaenopteridae: The family of baleen whales that includes rorquals, characterized by their throat grooves and baleen plates.
Ventral Pleats: Grooves or folds on the throat and belly of rorqual whales that allow for significant expansion during feeding.
Filter-Feeding: A method of feeding where organisms strain small food particles from water, typically using specialized structures like baleen.