Blue whale fluke: Richard Fitzer, Shutterstock. Blue whale in dark blue ocean: Brandon Cole Marine Photography, Alamy. Blue whale with back out of water: Sburel, Dreamstime. Images ⓒ: Blue whale with head out of water: Anthony Pierce, Alamy.
With only 10,000-25,000 left in the wild, these magnificence marine mammals are today classified as an endangered species. And despite a global hunting ban in 1966, their population has declined by 70-90 percent in the past 150 years. They then travel to warmer, tropical waters to mate and give birth.ĩ) At birth, blue whale calves measure around 8m long and weigh a massive 4,000kg! They grow quickly, too – for seven to eight months, these bulky babies suckle on their mother’s rich, fatty milk, and gain around 90kg each day!ġ0) Sadly, in the late 19th early 20th century, blue whales were heavily hunted. During the feeding season, they fill up on krill in cold polar waters. Their calls are the loudest of any creature on the planet, in fact, and can be heard underwater for hundreds of kilometres.Ĩ) These awesome aquatic animals follow a seasonal migration pattern.
#Biggest whale in the world series#
Gulp!ħ) To communicate with each other, blue whales make a series of super-loud vocal sounds. It then pushes the water through its 300-400 baleen plates, which trap the tasty grub to be swallowed. When eating, the whale lets a huge volume of water and krill into its mouth. Instead of teeth, they have baleen, a fibrous material used to filter their food. Blue Whale How Big An Antarctic Blue Whale Is How Loud Antarctic Blue Whale Scream 52-hertz Whale Beluga Whale Migaloo Whale Bottlenose Whale Sei Whale. But they shift a fair few of these seafood snacks – up to 40 million each day, in fact!Ħ) These marine marvels are a species of ‘ baleen’ whale. But in areas where there’s lots of food available, as many as 60 whales may come together.ĥ) Despite their humongous size, blue whales eat tiny shrimp-like crustaceans called krill. Some individuals have a yellowy-coloured underside, giving rise to the nickname ‘ sulphur bottom’ whales.Ĥ) Blue whales can be found in all of our planet’s oceans, except the Arctic, usually swimming alone or in groups of two to four. Immortalized by Herman Melville in the novel Moby Dick, the sperm whale is the largest toothed whale in the world, reaching an extraordinary 20 meters in length. It’s tongue weighs as much as an elephant, its heart is the size of a car and its blood vessels are so wide you could swim through them!ģ) These blue-grey giants have a long, stream-lined body, a wide head, huge flippers, a powerful tail and a small dorsal fin. And by ‘big’, we in fact mean absolutely ginormous!ġ) The largest animals to have ever lived on Earth, blue whales can grow to over 30m long and weigh more than 130,000kg – that’s longer than three buses and heavier than three lorries!Ģ) Pretty much everything about the blue whale is massive.
Brace yourselves for a big ocean adventure, gang, with our brilliant blue whale facts.
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