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2 votes
Why don't whales have saliva?
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Kinda curious to know! :3​

User IHTCboy
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2 Answers

5 votes
This elasticity helps cetaceans to renew 90% of the air in their lungs in a single breath. The gene SLC4A9 is partly responsible for the production of saliva in terrestrial mammals, but your average dolphin or whale has little need of spittle which is why it has been lost in cetaceans.
User Steve Bals
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2 votes

The seawater dilute the saliva in them, so the necessary digestive enzymes they can't use.

User Darrin Cullop
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