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Not to be confused with elephant ears or elephant ears, eNature.com reports this about whale ears:
...the age of certain whales can be determined by examining their ears.
The ear wax of Fin Whales and some other species of baleen whales is different from the kind that clogs our own ears. The whale variety forms a hard plug that seems to improve hearing rather than impair it. Also, the ear wax of these whales thickens in distinct layers each year -- two layers annually for the Fin Whale, while the Humpback Whale appears to add four layers of ear wax per year.
Once a person knows the appropriate rate of wax buildup for a given species, it's relatively easy to calculate the whale's age. Unfortunately, the whale must be dead in order for its ear plug to be extracted and studied. The surest method for determining the age of a living whale is to check its ID.
...now what I'd like to see is a close-up view of whale ears. Also, since that whale ear wax improves the whales' hearing, do our auditory engineers put it to any practical use?
In an attempt to keep the Word Safari active,
WildWord
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Dear WW: I found a picture of a Minke whale ear dissected, showing a "tympanic bulla" which may be a thickened ear drum to withstand pressure associated with deep dive. But, alas, no wax http://www.multim.com/baleines/BaleinesA.html
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wwh, some words from the link (thanks for providing it):
Osmoregulation
Odontocetes
Mysticetes
The tympanic bulla
finger glove
malleus
incus
stapes in the oval window.
Care to comment in layman's terms?
Beast regards,
WhaleWind
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Dear WW: The whales are divided into two big groups. The odontocetes have teeth, and can eat such things as giant squid. The other group, the mysticetes have giant strainers like combs made of baleen, strong but flexible teeth to strain out of the water tiny creatures they feed on. This was the material from which corsets and hoopskirts were made of long ago. In looking up baleen in dictionary, I was surprised to find it comes from the Greek word for whale - phallus - said to have been suggested by the shape of the whale. (Somebody was thinking big!)
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old hand
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Recently visited the Whale World museum at Albany, in southern Western Australia (converted from an old whaling station). They had several whale "ear bones" on display - either from a sperm whale or a humpback whale, I'm unsure. They were about grapefruit size and looked like a grotesque 3D caricature of Winston Churchill's head. Apparently whalers used to paint facial features on them for a bit of fun.
stales
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There have been stories in news recently about Navy Sonar damaging whale ears so badly whales die.
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Dear Stales,
Now somehow strangely forever connected will be Winston Churchill, whales' ears, and grapefruits....
Did the artists paint Churchill's face onto the bones? And which of the bones? The hammer? (If a whale has a hammer bone?) The anvil? (If a whale has an anvil?) The stirrup? (If......stirrup?)
Or: Does the whale ear bone naturally look like Churchill? And, if so, what mystical significance is there in the fact that the whale's ear bone looks like Churchill? That couldn't be coincidental, if true, you know!! That's got to be some darned importantly significant bit of synchronicity!
Best regards,
Whalewind
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And just to see how much tsuwm reads:
I would suggest that some whales are probably more navicularly shaped than others. Care to start a list of the most navicularly shaped whales?
Best regards,
Windbag
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sorry but if you are going to start talking about whales and bones in the same sentence, i feel compelled to point out, when a whale gets a boner, he uses his phallic bone! whales, and several other (mostly aquatic) animals, have bones in their pelvic area to help them get, and keep, it up. phallic bones can be as long as 6 feet! (almost 2 meters) and now like connie, i'll just whistle, and move along, all nice and quiet.. 
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Helen, are you booking a whale-watching trip for your next vacation?  Will you please bring back pictures to share? Panoramic ones?
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Gosh, all this breaking news about whales and boners brings new meaning to those wild groans and moans in the cries of the Humpback Whale! Must go back and listen to that recording again!
Thanks, of Troy, for your constant and true edification of all of us here. Your knowledge of esoterica never fails to amaze me!
Best regards,
WhaleWatcher
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dearest wordwind,
RE:Your knowledge of esoterica never fails to amaze me!and my knowledge of erotica never fails to shock, either does it?
than you !
helen
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and now like connie, i'll just whistle, and move along, all nice and quiet..Well, of Troy, you can talk my talk, and you can whistle my whistle, BUTT.....can ya walk my walk? [sashaying, swishing my skirts-e] Resident Hussy Goddess
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dear sweet Connie, i could be wrong, but i seem to remember that once, not to long ago, as a stranger, you were as pure as the driven snow.. and then i sent you a PM, and pointed out nice girls go to heaven and us bad girls get to everywhere else, and invite you to take a stroll! I don't think of you (or myself!) as a gutter godess, but on my way to all those wonderful interesting places i go, i sometimes happen to cross a road, and to do so, i step into the gutter. i step in, i move along, if i make an observation or two along the way.. well, be that as it may. and i might point out, the shop that Max was kind enough to find, is in my home town. 6 food long whale bones my be expensive to mail.. do you want me to call and see if i can pick one up for you before i head out MI? Or would you rather plan a trip to NY for your self.. and get to pick a bone of your own bone? (angel is worried about explaining waffle irons.. imagine explaining a 6 foot phallic bone to immigration!) helen
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Connie: BUTT.....can ya walk my walk? [sashaying, swishing my skirts-e]
Helen: i ... invite you to take a stroll!
Ah, life is beautiful! [happily walking 15 paces behind, enjoying the lovely views -e]
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old hand
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> homo sapiens sapiens was one of only a very few species without a penile bone
Thank god I say - can you imagine setting off down the street on Sunday morning to get the paper to read over breakfast whilst dog-locked?
stales
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Good question - I don't know which bone gets painted. It's just like I descibed - a distorted subspherical object about 6" across.
stales
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Dear Stales,
I'm confused. (Nothing new.) Which bone is six feet across and painted? Are we talking about the whale ear bone now or are we talking about the boner bone?
Very appreciative of a bit of explanation,
WonderingWind
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old hand
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Did I say "feet"? Sorry - try 6 INCHES for a whale ear bone. I don't doubt that a penile bone (if present) is 6 FEET.
stales
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Dear Stales,
My fault. I just misread. So this whale ear bone that's round (and like Winston Churchill and a grapefruit) is the one that's painted.
Thanks for setting me straight here.
WW
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Oh no, dear WW, to be set straight.. you need something long and straight-- Perhaps one of these long straight bones? how tall are you? we have them up to 6 feet long..
Yes, we have what you need, not one of those little 6 inch bones from a whale's ear, that look like a scrunched up Winston Churchill (marvelous man, but no great looker even in his youth, and scrunched up and old? who'd want to look at that?
but just look at this bone.. and conteplate, do you wonder now about whale songs.. they never sound sad do they?
perhaps instead of viagra, we should be serving up our men calcium.. and get some bones growing!
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whale songs.. they never sound sad
Interesting observation, helen. The ones I've heard have always sounded sad to me.
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...to Japanese and Norwegian ears they just sound dollarous.
And dollopous.
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Bingley
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*Wow*, Bingley. That was quite an article! I took special glee in the reporter's use of the word erected.  Perhaps not unrelated, I've heard that Iceland has the highest national rate of alcoholism, presumably because Iceland is so godforsaken and boring. This guy has learned to channel his energy...
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From the article: so he is eager to have it taken warm No need for more words here.
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I took special glee in the reporter's use of the word erected. So did I. But no lady am I
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No need for more words here.Or here.
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