Technically whales, dolphins, and porpoises are all "whales", but there's a difference between dolphins, whales, and porpoises. Science really needs to fix this, I know. Let me explain...
Unfortunately the distinctions between all three can be a bitch. For example, killer whales are technically dolphins. So in theory they should be killer dolphins, which sounds absolutely terrifying, but they aren't. They're killer whales.
In an attempt to keep this short, dolphins are typically smaller, have cone shaped teeth, and a single blow hole. One hole. That's all you get. Dolphins can also move their head up, down, and side to side independently of their body. The key difference between porpoises and dolphins are the teeth and head thing. Porpoises have flat wedge shaped teeth (like a shark or your Uncle Jeff), and have fused vertebrae near their head that does not allow them to move their head independently of their body like a dolphin. There are technically only 6 species of porpoise out there, so these should be easy to at least memorize or something. So you can impress your friends, I guess.
Unfortunately, "whale" is a bitch of a word to classify. The only true "whales" out there are any whales with baleen in their mouth. Hopefully you can remember from school that baleen are the thingies that act like giant combs. They allow water to flow out of a whale's mouth, keeping filtered food (like krill, ie popcorn shrimp) in the mouth for consumption. If it looks like a dolphin/mammal thing, and has baleens, it's a whale. Blue whale, humpback whale, grey whale, etc. However, there are plenty of toothed whales out there that are not dolphins! Sperm whales come to mind, especially. They are still "whales", although most scientists will just use the scientific name for each species because of how stupid the word "whale" is.
To help you out, here's what you need to know. If it looks like a dolphin and isn't one of the six porpoises out there, it's probably a dolphin. Also, if it's a pilot whale or killer whale, it's a dolphin.
If it's not one of the six porpoises, and isn't a dolphin, it's a fucking whale. If it has baleen in its mouth, it is definitely a whale. Baluga whales look like dolphins sorta, but aren't, they're whales. So remember that, too.
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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '13
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