THE BLUE WHALE

Hopefully you learned something.

:D

Images from: google.com

Information from:

• whalefacts.org
• WHALE FACTS
• wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_blue_whale
• ANSWERS
• animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/blue-whale/
• Blue Whale
• sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346683/description/Blue-whale
• ScienceNews

RELATIVES

SIZE

The blue whale is the largest animal on Earth. It is usually 80-100 feet long, and as high as a three story building. Blue whales can weigh up to 200 tons, or 400,000 pounds. Their hearts are the size of a Mini Cooper or a '67 Beetle! The heart weighs about one ton.

The blue whale has a few relatives. It has the northern and southern blue whales, and the pygmy whale that lives in the Indian Ocean. There are also a few other baleen whales like the humpback, minke, fin, sei, and Brydes whales.

THE BLUE WHALE

DIET

WHALES USUALLY EAT KRILL WHEN THEY NEED TO EAT. BUT THEY ALSO EAT COPEPODS AND ZOOPLANKTON. ON AVERGE, BLUE WHALES EAT 4 TONS OF KRILL EACH DAY. THAT IS AS MUCH AS A FULL SIZED PICK-UP TRUCK.

PREDATORS

Blue whales only have two predators: killer whales and humans. In the early to mid 1900s, people killed blue whales for their oil and blubber. It was eventually banned. Then, killer whale pods kill blue whales naturally just because.

WHALE CALVES

Whale calves are usually born one year after mating. Newborn whales weigh three tons and are 25 feet long. The length is about half the size of a full-sized school bus, and weigh about four times less than a full-sized bus. Whale calves gain 200 pounds per day just drinking their mother's milk. An average human drinks 360 pounds of milk per year.

APPEARANCE

HABITAT

Whales usually like to live in cold and temperate water. They also like to dive deeper into the ocean over going to the surface, unless they have to breathe. Whales like to feed in cool water at high latitudes. During migration, blue whales like to migrate to warmer water as a breeding or birth place. Once the whale calf is about 50 feet long, whales stop migrating to the warmer oceans. Whales become "mature" at five or ten years old.

The first thing you might notice when you see a male and female whale swimming together is that the female will be larger. Blue whales have a long streamlined body. When they surface, they are a blue-grey color. The under body is a yellow-green color because while blue whales swim, there are microscopic diatoms picked up.

ADAPTATIONS

WHALE SIZE CHART

COMPARISON

Since whales are "sea mammals," they have many

adaptations

Blue whale: 80-100 feet long

SOCIAL LIFE

Blue whale calf: 25 feet long

WHALES USUALLY LIKE TO TRAVEL IN

SMALL GROUPS OF TWO OR THREE WHALES. OTHER TIMES, THEY'LL JUST TRAVEL ALONE. THE LARGEST GROUP OF WHALES FOUND WAS 60 WHALES. THEY ALSO MAKE EXTREMELY LOUD AND LOW PITCHED SOUNDS THAT CAN TRAVEL HUNDREDS OR EVEN THOUSANDS OF MILES. THESE SOUNDS CAN REACH 188 DECIBELS, COMPARED TO A FIGHTER JET'S ENGINE, WHICH IS 140 DECIBELS. ALSO, THERE IS ONE CALF BORN EVERY TWO OR THREE YEARS.

• They have 50 to 70 throat grooves that lets their throat expand when a lot of water or food travels into their mouth
• Their blubber is 2 to 14 inches thick since they mostly live in cold water
• Their baleen is used to filter out food from water or mud
• They have a 4-chambered heart unlike the average mammal that has two. Their heart beat can be heard two miles away. They also pump 20,000 pounds of blood throughout the body. Their hearts also beat 5 or 6 times per minute.
• Blue whales have a closed circulatory system
• The closed circulatory system is an organ system that passes nutrients, gases, blood cells, ect. to and from cells in the body to fight diseases and help stabilize body temperature and pH to maintain homeostasis.
• Since they are mammals, they have a blowhole to breathe air
• Lungs exchange 80-90% of oxygen. Humans only exchange 10-15%
• Blue whales have internal ears instead of external to increase swimming speed

Average human height: 5'4''

Average bus: 40 feet long