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Southern Ocean around Antarctica
- Females are generally larger than males, and the largest animals live in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. The blue whale is found alone or in small groups in all oceans, but populations in the Southern Hemisphere are much larger.
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4 days ago · Learn about the blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived, and its distribution, diet, and behavior. Find out how blue whales are endangered and protected by international conservation efforts.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Four subspecies are recognized: B. m. musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia in the Southern Ocean, B. m. brevicauda (the pygmy blue whale) in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, and B. m. indica in the Northern Indian Ocean. There is also a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies.
- What Is The Blue Whale?
- Diet of Krill
- Coloring and Appearance
- Vocalization and Behavior
- Blue Whale Calves
- Longevity
- Conservation
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
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...
Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. They live in all the world's oceans, except the Arctic, and feed on krill.
- 4 min
Sep 28, 2023 · In the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctic blue whales occur mainly in relatively high latitude waters south of the "Antarctic Convergence" and close to the ice edge in summer. They generally migrate to middle and low latitudes in winter, although not all whales migrate each year.
Distribution. Worldwide in tropical to polar latitudes. ECOSYSTEM/HABITAT. Open ocean (pelagic); rarely coastal. FEEDING HABITS. Filter feeder. TAXONOMY. Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales), Family Balaenopteridae (rorquals) Interestingly, though they are enormous, blue whales are not predatory.
Where do blue whales live? Although once upon a time there may have been over 350,000 blue whales in our oceans, pre-industrial hunting decimated their populations and now there are only between 10,000 and 25,000 left. Preferring to live in deep ocean, blue whales are rarely seen close to shore.
Blue whales can be found in all oceans except in the Arctic. Known for their impressive migratory patterns, blue whales travel massive distances each year. They migrate because they prefer to feed in cooler, nutrient-rich waters and breed in warmer, tropical areas. There are many subspecies of blue whales named for the areas in which they live.
