cetology

right|thumb|300px|A researcher fires a biopsy dart at an [[orca. The dart will remove a small piece of the whale's skin and bounce harmlessly off the animal.]]

Cetology (from Greek , kētos, "whale"; and , -logia) or whalelore (also known as whaleology) is the branch of marine mammal science that studies the approximately eighty species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises in the scientific infraorder Cetacea. Cetologists, or those who practice cetology, seek to understand and explain cetacean evolution, distribution, morphology, behavior, community dynamics, and other topics.