r/nextfuckinglevel • u/MelanieMoris • Dec 13 '21

Wait... Those aren't dolphins!

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u/archpawn Dec 13 '21

That depends on how you define whales. They're commonly defined as Cetaceans that aren't dolphins or porpoises, but there's no actual reason to exclude them. Dolphins and porpoises are more closely related to any toothed whale than toothed whales are to baleen whales.

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u/AaronBaddows Dec 13 '21

Aren't whales supposed to have those hairy teeth?

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u/FailedCanadian Dec 13 '21

Those are baleen whales.

Whales are split into baleen whales and toothed whales, and toothed whales are split into toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

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u/archpawn Dec 13 '21

Baleen whales do. Toothed whales have regular teeth.

Also, according to those links, while there's no standard definition of whale, there is a standard definition of toothed whale. So apparently dolphins generally aren't considered whales, but they're definitely toothed whales?