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The blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 ft) and weighing up to 199 tonnes (196 long tons; 219 short tons), it is the largest animal known ever to have existed.
- Bob Strauss
- Biggest Whale: Blue Whale (200 Tons) At 100 feet long and 200 tons, not only is the blue whale the biggest mammal in the world, but it's also the largest vertebrate animal that has ever lived.
- Biggest Elephant: African Elephant (7 Tons) The largest land-dwelling mammal on earth, at seven tons, the African elephant is smaller than the blue whale for good reason: The buoyancy of water helps to counteract the blue whale's weight, and elephants are terrestrial.
- Biggest Dolphin: Killer Whale (6 to 7 Tons) How can the biggest dolphin be a whale? Killer whales, also known as orcas, are classified as dolphins rather than whales.
- Biggest Even-Toed Ungulate: Hippopotamus (5 tons) Even-toed ungulates, or artiodactyls, are a widespread family of plant-eating mammals that includes deer, pigs, cows, and the biggest cleft-hoofed mammal, the common hippopotamus.
- What Is The Blue Whale?
- Diet of Krill
- Coloring and Appearance
- Vocalization and Behavior
- Blue Whale Calves
- Longevity
- Conservation
Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. These magnificent marine mammals rule the oceans at up to 100 feet long and upwards of 200 tons. Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant. Their hearts, as much as an automobile.
Blue whales reach these mind-boggling dimensions on a diet composed nearly exclusively of tiny shrimplike animals called krill. During certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about 4 tons of krill a day. Blue whales are baleen whales, which means they have fringed plates of fingernail-like material, called baleen, attached to ...
Blue whales look true blue underwater, but on the surface their coloring is more a mottled blue-gray. Their underbellies take on a yellowish huefrom the millions of microorganisms that take up residence in their skin. The blue whale has a broad, flat head and a long, tapered body that ends in wide, triangular flukes.
Blue whales live in all the world's oceans, except the Arctic, occasionally swimming in small groups but usually alone or in pairs. They often spend summers feeding in polar waters and undertake lengthy migrations towards the Equator as winter arrives. These graceful swimmers cruise the ocean at more than five miles an hour, but accelerate to more ...
Calves enter the world already ranking among the planet's largest creatures. After about a year inside its mother's womb, a baby blue whale emerges weighing up to 3 tons and stretching to 25 feet. It gorges on nothing but mother's milk and gains about 200 pounds every day for its first year.
Blue whales are among Earth's longest-lived animals. Scientists have discovered that by counting the layers of a deceased whale's waxlike earplugs, they can get a close estimate of the animal's age. The oldest blue whale found using this method was determined to be around 110 years old. Average lifespan is estimated at around 80 to 90 years.
Aggressive hunting in the 1900s by whalers seeking whale oil drove them to the brink of extinction. Between 1900 and the mid-1960s, some 360,000 blue whales were slaughtered. They finally came under protection with the 1966 International Whaling Commission, but they've managed only a minor recovery since then. Blue whales have few predators but are...
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As the largest animal known to have ever existed on our planet, blue whales can reach lengths of up to 100 feet (approximately 30 meters), dwarfing other marine mammals in sheer size. Gray whales , not pictured, can reach up to 49 feet (14.9 meters).
The blue whale is much larger than a human and can measure up to 33 meters (109 feet). That’s about four times the size of an African elephant, the largest land mammal. A blue whale is also larger than a humpback whales, sperm whales, or baleen whales. A female blue whale is about 21-27 meters (70-90 feet).
Jan 9, 2019 · The blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest animal known to have existed in history. These enormous marine mammals have been known to reach up to 110 feet (34 meters) long, and...
Feb 1, 2019 · Share: Marine mammals are found in marine ecosystems around the globe. They are a diverse group of mammals with unique physical adaptations that allow them to thrive in the marine environment with extreme temperatures, depths, pressure, and darkness. Marine mammals are classified into four different taxonomic groups: cetaceans (whales, dolphins ...
