Whales: The Giants of the Sea (2)

Blue whales
Blue whales are the largest animal in the world, many weighing up to 180,000 kilograms and reaching lengths of over 30 meters. They are long and slender with a bluish-gray color and a heart that wights as much as a small car.

These sea giants are baleen whales, meaning they have a comb-like ridge on the top and bottom of their mouths where teeth are normally found. These whales take in water as they swim, and the baleen, equipped with bristles, filters the water and catches small ocean creatures called krill. These whales eat around 40 million krill per day, totaling over 3,600 kilograms.

Blue whales once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but overhunting has nearly driven them to extinction; today it is believed that only a few thousand remain.

Gray whales
Gray whales are another kind of baleen whale. They typically swim along the ocean bottom, using their mouths to suck up mud and their baleen to filter their prey.

With heads usually covered in barnacles, gray whales are easy to recognize and not shy, often swimming alongside boats and watching the people aboard.


Info Cloud

The baleen whales use bristles to filter the water and catch krill.

This process reminds me of the expression "going over something with a fine-tooth comb."

Well, it's easy to make that assoication as our lesson mentions, "a comb like ridge in the whale's mouth that works pretty much like a comb".

Right! But in this case, the comb is not used to comb hair; rather, it works like a filter.

Which is interesting because for centuries, people use combs for the unglamarous purpose of removing lice eggs from their hair.

And, a fine-tooth comb, or one that has small narrow teeth that are set closely together, is especially effective in this endeavor.

Now, the expression "going over things with a fine-tooth comb", was first used in detective or police work.

Just as a person would use a fine-tooth comb, to find and remove the smallest of filth from one's hair, investgators would carefully go over the details of a crime scene, looking for the smallest of clues to solve the case.

Today, the expression can apply to a very detailed apporach to anything.

An editor might go over a book or article with a fine-tooth comb, checking for small mistakes.

If your teacher uses a fine-tooth comb when he or she is examining your work, you'd better make sure everything is in order before you hand it in.

baleen whales
go over something with a fine-tooth comb
fine-tooth comb

Language Lab
ridge n. 隆起部位; 山脊
/ˈrɪʤ/
1 a long area of high land, especially at the top of a mountain;
2 a) something long and thin that is raised above the things around it
2 b) the part at the top of a roof, where the two sides meet
- Trying to fix the antenna, Dad sat on the ridge of the roof.
爸爸坐在屋脊, 為了要試著修理天線
- The mountaineers finally reached the mountain ridge at 4 p.m.
這些登山客最後終於在下午四點的時候達到山脊

filter v. 過濾, 濾除
to remove unwanted substances from water, air etc by passing it through a special substance or piece of equipment
- The water in the pool was filtered before it was recycled.
游泳池的水在回收水之前, 都有先被過濾
- All the boss' emails are filtered by his secretary.
老闆所有的電子郵件都是他的秘書先過濾
filter n. 濾器; 多孔過濾材料
a device that is used to remove something unwanted from a liquid or gas that passes through it
- The AC filter needs to be cleaned periodically.
空調的濾網需要定期的清洗

prey n.[U]被捕食的動物
an animal, bird etc that is hunted and eaten by another animal
- Spiders catch their prey with their elaborate webs.
蜘蛛用它們精巧的蜘蛛網來抓取臘物
- An eagle is hovering above looking for its prey.
一隻老鷹在盤懸尋找臘物
prey n. 欺負傷害愚弄的對象
- Many burglars or robbers see old people as easy prey.
許多小偷和強盜都視老人為容易欺負的對象

alongside prep.  在...旁邊; 沿著...的邊; 與...並排靠攏著
next to (someone or something) ;  along the side of (something)
- I rode my bike alongside my brother's.
我和哥哥並排騎著腳踏車
- Many tourists strolled alongside the River Seine.
許多觀光客 沿著賽娜河邊散步
alongside prep. 和某個對象一起
at the same time as (something) : together with (something)
- Jessie has been working alongside Jeff for ten years.
Jessie 和 Jeff 一起並肩工作十年了

slender adj.
/ˈslɛndɚ/
thin especially in an attractive or graceful way
very narrow : not wide


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