Believe it or not, whales do have hair, although it’s only visible in some species.
One of those is the humpback whale. The golfball-sized lumps you see on a humpback’s head each house a hair follicle. Fin, sei, right and bowhead whales also have hair follicles. There can be 30-100 of these follicles, depending on the species.
We don’t know why whales have this hair, but there are some theories. Each hair follicle is surrounded by nerves, which likely perform a sensory function. Perhaps they are used to sense prey in the water or assess prey densities to tell the whale when there is enough fish in a school that it’s worth feeding. They may also be used in social situations (such as if a calf needs to tell its mom that it needs to nurse), or maybe they are used to detect changes in water currents.
If you go on a whale watch and see a humpback whale, see if you can spot the tubercles or hair follicles on its head!
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