14 jaw-dropping pictures of whales

A southern right whale encounters a diver on the sandy sea bottom off the Auckland Islands, New Zealand. Adults can reach lengths of 17 metres (55 feet) and weigh up to 60 tonnes.

Humpback whales were hunted to near extinction, with numbers dropping by more than 90 percent before a 1966 ban allowed the species to bounce back.

A group of narwhal gather en masse at an Arctic ice floe to eat cod. The animal's tusk is actually a tooth that can grow more than three metres (nine feet) long; it has baffled people for centuries.

Also known as white whales, belugas (pictured, an animal at St. Lawrence Marine Park in Quebec) live in the Arctic. Calves are born grey or even brown and only fade to white as they become sexually mature around five years of age.

Pilot whales swim off Kona, Hawaii. Oceanic whitetip sharks sometimes follow pods of these whales, possibly eating scraps of prey left behind.

An orca, also known as a killer whale, herds herring into a tight group near Andenes, Norway. The largest of the dolphins, this predator also feasts on marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, and even whales.

Belugas communicate with echo-location, a built-in sonar that allows them to sense objects nearby. They do this via their melon, a fatty organ in the centre of their forehead that gives the skull its distinctive shape.

The narwhal’s iconic tusk is actually a repurposed canine tooth. This complex sensory organ transmits stimuli from ocean water to the brain.

Intensely social creatures, orcas hunt in pods, family groups of up to 40 individuals. The species can be found from the polar regions to the Equator.

Minke feed near the surface of Cashes Ledge, a rich region of marine biodiversity within the Gulf of Maine. This species is still hunted: in 2016, Japanese whalers killed 333 minke whales—including more than 200 pregnant females.

The bowhead, which lives in chilly northern waters, can live up to 200 years. A cold environment causes a low body temperature, which in turn means slow metabolism—and thus less damage to tissues.

Like the orca, the long-finned pilot whale is a large dolphin that forms family pods. The highly social species earned its moniker from their tendency to follow a leader, or 'pilot', during lengthy migrations.

Sperm whales (pictured off the Azores) were intensely hunted for a fatty substance in their heads, called spermaceti in their heads, used as an oil and lubricant in the 1800s.

Humpback whales (pictured, an animal near Antarctica) emit moans, howls, cries, and other complex noises that can continue for hours. The 1979 'Songs of the Humpback Whale' album made the animals' 'songs' famous.