Taxa

Cetacea

Order

Citation Formats

General Reference

Nature Atlas. "Cetacea." Accessed September 8, 2026. https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/order-cetacea.

APA Style

Nature Atlas. (n.d.). Cetacea. Retrieved September 8, 2026, from https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/order-cetacea

BibTeX

@misc{natureatlas-cetacea,
  author = {Nature Atlas},
  title = {Cetacea},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/order-cetacea},
  note = {Accessed September 8, 2026}
}

Whales, dolphins and porpoises: fully aquatic mammals descended from land-dwelling, hoofed ancestors, with forelimbs modified into flippers, no hind limbs, and a horizontally flattened tail fluke used for propulsion. Cetacea includes the blue whale, the largest animal known to have ever lived.

Facts

Disputed

Member Species/Taxa Count

90 1

Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.

Taxonomic Rank

Order 1

Scientific Name

Cetacea 1

Cross-Tradition Connections