U.S. Department of Agriculture U.S. Government Publication Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services • ., A~ r File WEXFORD - WHALE Fi,lii11g, i1<111 l,n111di11,l( , f;i11 1ii11 g, wool,·n n1ill ­ WHALE, any of a gro11p of' t· .,c:lusiv<'I~- aq11al1c ing, haco11 ;11H I l1a111 <·111 i11g, a11d brcwing are !ht· Jllammals that i11cl11dt·s the largest an in1 als that chief i11d11 s trit·,. Mari>!<' , slate, and granite arc ever lived. Whales (o rd e r Cetacea) a re fo1111d i11 q11arrit·d. The brm rl'gicllls produce poultry, cat­ a ll oceans and contiguous seas, and in certa in riv­ tl e, wheat, barley, potatoes, and dairy products. e rs and lakes of sou theastern Asia, tropical South Wexford was the first countv in l1Tland to he America, northe rn North Ame rica, and northern occupie d h y the English. An.Cil' nt castles and Eurasia. church ruins are near the town of Enniscorthy This article deals mainly with larger Illt'111- and Ferns. Population: (1981) 99.016. be rs of th e whale order. For further information on some small er whales, see BELUGA; D OLPHIN ; WEXFORD, wc·ks' brd, a town i11 s <>11tlw:1s t<'rn Ire­ J.:11.1.i-:11 \'°l 'II AI.E ; NAH \\'IIAI.; and PoHPOI SE . la nd, th<-' scat o f county Wexford. It is si tua ted at \\'halt's are t~•pi<'ally c haracterized by torpeclo­ tlH' mouth of the river Slauey, 70 miles ( I JO km) s l1 ap!'d bodies with forelimbs shaped as flip­ so11th o f' D11 Iii in. I 11d11 st rit·s incl 11d e brewing. pt·r, and 110 external hind limbs. Most w hales nwat c 11ri11 g, and the 111an111':i,·f1111· of textiles. ag- han· a cl 11r~al fi11 . a11d the tail is horizontal in con­ 1i, ·11ll111 :il i11qil,·11w111\ , "'" ' l11111il11w T11111i , 111 i, trn , t to tl,c • ,·,·,ti,·.,} tai l nf 1110 s! fislH's . A layc· r of i11q 1" 1l :111t to tl1<· 1·1·011t1111, ·. Tit< · ft1w11 takl', ifs 1,1,d,I,,., 111 11 f,., J,,., ti><' :1!1110,t l1 :ti1 It'" ~k ,11 . 11:111 11· f,orn the \Jt l1 c·,·1 lf11r·y i)a11i sli sl'ltle1ne11 t o l wl1il'l1 I,," '"' ,<' l1;1<'t'rn1s o r sweat glands. Tlie W:tt•sl.io1d. \V,·xford v.a, ilil' l1< ·:icl q11art< ·r, of'tll<' ,·v,·s :irt· ,n1all i11 c·on ,parison to body size, and n ·h,·llirn, of 17!J8. l'op1d:itit111 : (IDHI ) 11 ,J!J!i. tllt'n · ar<' 1111 t•xlt- rn a l l'ars. Adult wlial,·s an· ·l t11 IOtl 1, ·,·I ( 1.2 :lo 1111 ·1<- 1,) l1111g and W<' iglt fro111 '1S WEYDEN, Rogier van der. S,T VAN 1>1 -. 11 \\1 1-: Y1>1 :N, Jll1111 1d , lo 220 frn" (20 - 200,000 kg ). l\oc:11-: 11 . Whales swim by 111ea11s of up and down movements of the tail. The flippe rs f11n cti on as WEYL, vii, Hermann (1885- l\:J55), German mathe­ balancing and steering o rgans. The large balee n matician and mathematical physicist. Wey! was whales can attain a maximum speed of 16 mph born in Elmsborn, Germany, on Nov. 9, 1885, (26 km/h ), and some dolphins have been clocked and graduate d in 1908 from the Universit y of at speeds of up fo 20.5 mph (33 km/h). Cotli ngen, where he was David Hilbert's most The two groups o f living w hales are the ba­ gifted st 11dcnt. 11 is early work was deeply i nfl11- leen whales (Mys ti ceti), characterized by a filter­ enced by I lilbert's analytic approach, although feed ing mPchanism known as bale en, and the he la ter diverged fro111 his tt>a ch e r. In 19 13 he toothe d whales (Odontoceli), known for thei r was appoi1d1·d a prof,,, sor at tlH· llniv!'rsit y of complex t• c holncation svstcms. A third group, Ziirich, whnc he workt·d wi t!, All>nt Einstein. tlie Arc h:t<'Ot'l'li or Zt't1g~·odo11 ts, hel'a 111e extinct Fascinatt·d with E inslt' i11 's tlH ·orv of relativi­ about 25 million years ago. These primitive ty, Wey! d t·v<'lop,·d a 1111ifi<·d fi <•lil tl l('orv, in loothl'd whales art· neith<'r filter feed e rs nor whit'h 1· l< ·cfro111 ag1 1dit' and g ,a,·itafional (i<: lds cC'l1plocators. All tltn·t· groups of whales prob­ co11 ld he treat<"d as geo111etrical properties of ably ltad a common urigi 11 fro1n te rre st rial mam­ space-time. I II the HJ20's he s howed how quan­ mals. Studies s uggest that the most like ly ances­ tum-m<·c hanical phenomena co11l d he most easi­ tors of whales wpre deri,·ed from te rrestrial me­ ly expressed in terms of group theory. Ilis appli­ son ychids. The 111 e so11 yc- hids were a group of cati on of fnnction theory to geo1I1e try and his large-bod ied mammals (condyla rths) that lived work in a11aly tit' theory of 11111111,ers a11rl topology d11r i11g the Palem·c1H' and Eocene e poc hs more dist ingu ishe<l hin1 as 011e of lh t• 111osl universal than 50 million years ago. • mathematicians of the 20th century. The main ecological diffe re nce between the 111 1930, Wey] re t11nwd to Cottingen, on ly to baleen a nd toothed whales is in their place in the leave three years later in protest over Nazi treat­ food c ha in. The toothe d whales feed mainlv on nwnt o f his ) Pwish coll eague s. ll f' the n accept­ carnivores, including fish, squid, and octo.pus. <'d an a ppoi11t1ncnt at the l11 stit1tl e for Advanced The ir coni cal tef't h are for seizing and ho lding Study, in l'ri11 celo 11 , N.J., where lit· remained prey, which they swallow whole. Baleen until his d<·ath on IJec. 8, 1955. whales, o n the other hand, feed mainl y on vari­ STEVE l lA11111 s, University uf Wisconsin ous species of zooplan kton-s mall, large ly he r­ bivorous inve rte brates such as e uphausiids WEYMOUTH, w:i ',11 .,th, a town in t·astl'rII Massa­ (krill), cojwpods, and c<> rtain types of'amphipods. cl111 selb, in Norfolk county, ,,IJ011t 12 111il cs ( JV S1n:dl fi s 1 arc- al so eaten , especially in coastal km) southeast of Bosto n, on lloslon Bay. Al ­ waters. These food items are straine d fro m the tho ug h mainly a residential suburb, Weymouth seawater by mea ns of a mat formed by inter­ manufactures shoes, shoe counte rs, belting, e lec­ twined bristles attache d inside the baleen. tronics components, paper boxes, indus trial res­ The estimated life ex pectancies of whales ins, a nd chemicals . The town is made up of four range from less than 20 years for some of the major villages-Weymouth Landing and North, smaller species to 70 years for Baird's beaked East, and South Weymouth. A United States whales. Except for humans, the only predators naval air station is in South Weymouth. of large whales are kil le r whales (Orcinus area). Thomas Weston , an English me rc ha nt adven­ An y of the whales that live in polar waters a re turer, sent a party to establish a trading station a t vulnerable to ice e ntrapme nt and consequent Wessagusset, the Indian name for the present starvation or suffoca tion. town, in 1622. In 1634, 2 1 families from Wey­ Whales have long been hunte d by humans, mouth, England, arrived, and the town was in­ and some populations were brought to the verge corporat e d in September 1635. of extinction. Most large species are now pro­ Abigail Adams, wife of the second president tecte d by regulations of the International Whal­ of the Un ite d Stales, was born in Weymouth in ing Commission (IWC). All large whales are 1744. Her birthplace has be en res tored a nd comple te ly protected by the international Con­ opened to the public. Government is by repre­ vention for the Regulation of Whaling, e ffective .,t· 1il :il ivt' town 111<'<'li11 g. l'o p1dation : ri'.),(iOI. in l!lRn . 676 J li slorit':rlly !Ir,· '"'"' ,·al11:tlilc whale prod- 11cts wc·re !he h:tll'cn (also callee! whakhone) and the oi l dniV<·cl from l,l11hher. Until kerosirw hC'<':11111· :rvail:ihl,• in tlr<' l:rl,· l!ltlr n·ntirry, wh:rle oil was 11 sl'd c l, idly for li g lrtirr g. !),iring the 20th century, w hale oil was used in the prod11e­ tio11 of margarine, soaps, l11hricants, waxes, ex­ plosivc's, and 1111n1ero11s other products. S1wrm­ wlrale o il was ,·s1ll'c:ially val11ccl as a lriglr-q11:rlily lubricant. By tire HJHO's artificial s11 hslit 11lc •s had been found for all whale products. The most inrporlanl of these is a dC'sert plant native to the southwestern United States, the jojoba (S i111- mondsia rliinesis), which ean provide an eco­ nomic s11bst it11t e for sperm oil. v\lhale meat is ,till c·:rt,·11 hv th,· pc·opl,· ofa ft'W co1111tr iC's, h11t it '' II() lorr g,·~ :111 i111port:r11t p:rrl .