A display of Earth whales in the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito, California.
A whale was a large aquatic animal found in many oceans and seas across numerous planets in the Milky Way Galaxy. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: The Voyage Home; TOS novel: Probe)
Earth whales[]
Display model of a humpback whale.
Library computer display of a sperm whale.
On Earth, whales were classified as mammals of the cetacean order, and such were warm-blooded, breathed air, and produced milk to nurse their young. They first evolved around 11 million years BC and developed into two sub-orders: baleen whales and toothed whales. Baleen whales such as humpback whales were filter feeders and, instead of teeth, had huge plates of baleen hanging from their upper jaw which they used to strain plankton and shrimp out of mouthfuls of seawater. Toothed whales such as the sperm whale and orca did have teeth which they used to catch larger prey like squid and fish.
Whales were once hunted for their meat, blubber, baleen and, in the case of sperm whales, their ambergris. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: The Voyage Home; TAS episode: "The Ambergris Element")
In the 20th century, whales had been hunted to near extinction, and by the 23rd century, the great whales, including the orca, were extinct. However, due to some judicious time travel by Admiral James T. Kirk, Captain Spock and their crew, humpback whales were reintroduced to Earth in 2286. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: The Voyage Home)
In the 24th century, some types of whale, including humpbacks, dolphins and Takaya's whales, worked with the Federation Starfleet to undertake various missions of science and navigation. (TOS short story: , "The Hero of My Own Life"; TNG references: Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, Star Trek: The Next Generation USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D Blueprints)
Orders and species[]
Models of an adult blue whale and its calf.
Model of a right whale.
Model of a Cuveir's beaked whale.
Model of a pilot whale.
- Baleen whales
- Toothed whales
Extraterrestrial whales[]
Whales, or their equivalent, were found on other planets besides Earth. Whales swam in the oceans of Tempe (FASA RPG module: The Orions: Book of Common Knowledge) and the Voroth Sea on Vulcan. (TOS - Crucible novel: The Fire and the Rose)
The sand-dwelling silicon-based lifeform tcha'besheh, also from Vulcan, has also been described as a whale. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
In the year 2163, the USS Pioneer encountered a species that the crew dubbed cloud whales in the upper atmosphere of a class J gas giant. (ENT - Rise of the Federation novel: A Choice of Futures)
Appendices[]
See also[]
External links[]
- Whale article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Whale article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.