With lengths of up to 100 feet and weights of up to 200 tonnes, these magnificent marine creatures command the waters.
Blue whales are the giant mammals to become ever exist on Earth. With lengths of up to 100 feet and weights of up to 200 tonnes, these magnificent marine creatures command the waters.
Their tongues are so heavy that they can weigh as much as an elephant. Their hearts are worth as much as a car. Blue whales achieve these mind-boggling proportions by feeding almost entirely on tiny shrimp-like creatures known as krill.
A single adult blue whale consumes approximately 4 tonnes of krill each day at specific periods of the year. They are baleen fishes, suggesting they should have fringe plates of the fingernail-like body connected to their upper jaws called baleen.
The large animals feed by gulping a massive mouthful of water and then stretching the folded surface on their throat plus stomach to take it in. The whale’s colossal tongue then forces the water out via the thin, overlapping baleen plates.
As a result, thousands of krill are left behind before being devoured. Blue whales seem genuine blue underwater, but their pigmentation is mottled blue-gray on the surface.
The millions of bacteria that live in their skin give their underbellies a yellowish color. Blue whales have a large, flat head and a long, tapering body with broad, triangular flukes.
They are seen in all of the world’s waters save the Arctic, swimming in small groups on occasion but primarily alone or in pairs. They frequently spend the summers eating in polar seas and then migrate to the Equator as winter approaches.
These beautiful swimmers traverse the ocean at speeds of more than five miles per hour but may reach speeds of more than twenty miles per hour when agitated. Blue whales are among the most audible creatures in the world.
They produce a series of pulses, groans, and moans, and blue whales are considered to be able to hear each other up to 1,000 miles distant in good conditions. Scientists believe they employ these vocalizations not just to communicate but also to sonar-navigate the lightless deep depths.
