The largest whale in the world. Blue or blue whale. What does a whale eat?
The largest marine mammal on the planet, and in general in the whole world, is the Blue Whale. At the moment, we have discovered the largest representative of the deep sea, its length is almost 34 meters and its weight is 200 tons!
In addition to the enormous size of the body itself, the Blue Whale is simply incredibly large internal organs. A huge blue whale enters. For example, the tongue alone weighs more than 4000 kilograms, and the heart - 700 kg! By the way, such huge sizes are not uncommon in the ocean; probably, few people know that in 1870, off the coast of North America, the so-called one was found - more than 35 meters in length, and this, to compare the scale, is the height of a 9-story building !
When a small whale is just born (on the water), its mass can already be about 3 tons, and it will be as long as a small tree - 6-7 meters. Agree, such a cub is quite difficult to imagine. According to various sources, whales can live up to a hundred years, and all this time the “little” whale grows at a very fast speed. It should be noted that despite such a long life expectancy, these marine mammals produce offspring very slowly. Blue whale females become sexually mature only at the age of 10 and give birth once every 2 years, and carry their calves for about a year. At the same time, in our time, these incredibly noble and powerful mammals are mercilessly destroyed for industrial purposes, and at such a speed that females sometimes do not even have time to reach maternal age... The current population Blue whales, the largest whales in the world, is decreasing so much that they are already on the verge of extinction. In Japan, fishing has reached such brutal proportions that there are no whales left there at all.
The color of the mammal is mainly gray, with a blue tint. He was nicknamed the blue whale because when you look at him through the water, he appears in blue or light blue. The whale's belly and fins are lighter than the rest of its body.
Blue whales live in both warm and cold waters (tropical and polar seas). Despite the fact that these creatures have no teeth, they feed on all kinds of small marine life, from plankton to small fish. To feed, Blue whales have a so-called “whalebone” - a device similar to a huge sieve or brush, which passes through elements undesirable for the whale’s nutrition, as well as water. In other words, the largest whale will not be able to eat a person, even by accident, like the same bloodthirsty ones, therefore the species of such whales is considered partly safe in this regard. On the other hand, a Blue Whale can easily overturn a medium-sized vessel simply by accidentally hitting it, swimming past or showing interest in people.
There is a theory that whales came from land to water. This is evidenced by the structure of its skeleton, which does not at all resemble a fish; the Blue Whale even has finger bones on its front fins. In addition, he is a mammal and does not spawn or lay eggs, like a turtle, for example.
1st place.
The largest mammal today is recognized Blue whale. Even before the start of active hunting for whales, in the seas and oceans it was possible to meet individuals whose length reached 40 meters and weighed 200 tons. But that was a couple of centuries ago. Now, the thirty-meter whale is considered a real giant. As the experts themselves say: “The whales were crushed.”
The whale was nicknamed Blue not because it really is that color. In fact, it has a gray-blue color. It’s just that if you look at this mammal through the thickness of the sea water, it may seem that the whale is blue. There are three known subspecies of Blue whales: dwarf, southern and northern. Southern Blue whales are the largest, and dwarf whales are only three meters shorter than them.
2nd place. 
Fin whale. It weighs no more than 100 tons. And only if its habitat is warm seas. By species they are divided into southern and northern fin whales. The maximum length of the southern fin whale is 27 m, and their northern counterparts are 2-3 meters shorter than the “southerners”. These are the closest relatives of the Blue Whale, which, under certain circumstances, can give birth to joint calves.
3rd place. 
bowhead whale. It is clear that this is an inhabitant of icy seas, but this does not at all prevent it from being third on the list of the largest whales. Its length is 20 meters, plus or minus two meters. By the way, females are larger than males. And this feature is typical for all types of whales. It is noteworthy that among the Greenland whales there are many long-livers, who are 70-100 years old. It is probably the cold waters that slow down the aging process.
4th place. 
Sperm whale. This is the largest toothed whale. Their weight is “small”, on average 50 tons, and their length is about 20 meters. Sperm whales have their own characteristics. Firstly, they do not have a very attractive appearance, compared to their more attractive counterparts. Secondly, their ladies are almost half the size of their gentlemen. Thirdly, this cute mammal can easily swallow a person. But other whales cannot do this at all, because the throat of the same Blue Whale is the size of a dessert plate.
5th place. 
6th place. 
Right whales. They reach a length of 18 meters. Approximately forty percent of the mass of the southern whale is subcutaneous fatty tissue - blubber. Due to this circumstance, dead mammals do not drown, but float on the surface of the sea. Life expectancy can reach 70 years.
7th place. 
Gorbach, aka humpback whale. The length of the female is 15 m, and the male is only a meter smaller in size. Average weight – 35 tons. This whale has a denser and shorter body. That is, stocky build. Thanks to thickened subcutaneous tissue, they can travel across all oceans.
8th place.
Gray whale. Females can reach a length of 15 m, while males are only half a meter shorter. They have a fairly massive skull, with strong jaws. There is a keel-like protrusion on the lower jaw, with which the whale can plow the bottom of the sea or ocean to search for food. Color: gray-brown or black-brown. It is among gray whales that there are the most albinos.
9th place. 
Japanese whale. Medium in size and weight. 15 meters is the maximum length of a female. They have a dark color and a white spot in the belly area. They love to jump out of the water, although they are considered very slow. They don’t like to have offspring, and if they do, it’s only near the coast of Japan. Probably. That's why they were called that.
10th place. 
killer whale. This is the same killer whale. Males are larger than females. Their length is 12m. This is maximum. They have a one and a half meter dorsal fin and a very attractive appearance. An orca is a toothed whale that belongs to the dolphin family. It can easily eat a penguin or seal. Humans too, by the way.
A post with a few facts about the largest animal that ever lived on Earth... A dinosaur? No - blue whale!
This rare and little-studied whale is truly huge—bigger than a basketball court.
Blue (blue) whale
- The blue whale can grow up to 30 meters long - that's like two large buses
- The weight of this giant is up to 200 tons (15 buses or 8 passenger planes)
- The tongue of a blue whale weighs as much as an entire elephant and can carry up to 100 people.
- The heart of this whale alone weighs up to a ton. Its heartbeat can be heard at a distance of several kilometers, and a person can easily swim along the main arteries
- The blue whale can produce sounds up to 188 decibels. This is very loud, an airplane jet engine “whispers” in comparison - up to 140 decibels. Such a loud voice allows whales to communicate with each other at a distance of up to one and a half thousand kilometers
- The average whale eats about four tons of plankton per day
- As you know, the blue whale can throw water out of a special hole on top. So the height of this fountain reaches a three-story building. A child can fit through this hole itself.
- This giant moves within all the world's oceans at a speed of about 19 km/h, but if desired, it can accelerate to 48 km/h
- A blue whale calf is born after a year's gestation, weighing 3 tons and “height” 8 meters. He feeds only on mother's milk, 400 liters per day, and every day he gains about 100 kilograms of weight and 4 centimeters of height
- The lifespan of a blue whale is about 90 years
- The blue whale can dive to depths of up to 500 meters and stay there for up to 20 minutes.
Comparison of the blue whale with other animals
Fake blue whales
Inflatable blue whale on the beach
Blue whale in Minecraft
Blue whale photos
Blue animals
Blue (blue) Maltese tiger
Blue Tiger
Blue parrots
Blue wolf on a blue background
blue frog
Various “blue” photographs
The power and impressive size of whales stuns people and makes them stand in awe of the power of nature. It is almost impossible to believe that such large and strong creatures live next to us. Those who were lucky enough to see the largest whale in the world, the blue one, will remember this meeting for the rest of their lives. Such giants are the pride of our planet. Even looking at you from a photo, these huge mammals stun everyone. They are priceless and unique in their kind, and everyone should know about them.
Blue whale dimensions
George Melville wrote in his iconic novel Moby Dick: “How No matter how unreasonably animals behave, man is disproportionately superior to everyone in his madness.” The same situation happened with the largest whale on the planet. People are mercilessly exterminating it and, perhaps, soon this amazing species of animals will disappear from the face of the Earth. Whalers are attracted primarily by the size of this giant and its reserves of meat and fat.
To more clearly imagine the size of the blue whale, let us take as a basis the description of the largest individuals caught in South Georgia and near the South Shetland Islands:
- Total weight: 170-190 tons.
- Length: 30-34 meters.
- Tongue – 3-4 tons.
- Liver – 1 ton.
- Heart – 700 kg.
- Lung volume – 3000-5000 liters.
- The size (area) of the mouth is 24 sq.m.
- The diameter of the pharynx is 10 cm.
- Blood – 8-10 thousand l.
Huge inhabitants of the oceans have shocked scientists more than once. Long ago, in 1870, the Cyanea jellyfish was caught off the coast of North America. Its length reached the size of a 9-story building, that is, 35 meters!
Naturally, the data presented above applies only to the largest blue whales in the world that humanity has seen. Scientists believe that previously and even now, especially large individuals live somewhere. At the moment, the average blue whale weighs 120-150 tons, and its length does not exceed 23-25 m. By the way, females are always larger than males by a ton or two. Note that the diameter of the throat of this animal is very small, so no whale of this species can swallow anything larger than a soccer ball.
Interesting! One dedicated blue whale researcher has aptly described the sensations that come with encountering them. He said that the feeling is similar to what people experience when they are on a railway platform, when a huge train passes by, and everyone present is afraid that he will be swept away by a gust of wind under the heavy wheels.
Baby blue whales
We are born very tiny. Basically, the weight of a human baby is 2-4 kg. Now let's compare it to a baby blue whale. The weight of the largest baby is 3 tons, and the length is 5-6 m! Unimaginable!
Mothers carry future giants for exactly 1 year, feed them for 7 months, and they can live up to 100 years. These animals reproduce only once every 2 years. The moment when a female can become pregnant for the first time comes after 10 years. Unfortunately, the soft meat of young whales is too valuable for whalers. Most individuals do not survive to sexual maturity.
It is known that in Japan the fishery is so developed and active that they practically no longer have the longest whales in the world. Statistics show that before the start of hunting for these mammals, there were about 330 thousand of them on the planet as a whole. Moreover, their habitat is not limited to any one zone. At the moment, there are just over 5 thousand blue whales left on the planet, or just over 8 thousand according to other sources.
Types of blue whales, their capabilities and behavior
Within their species, these beauties are divided into completely distinct 3-4 subspecies:
- Northern(North Atlantic, northern part of the vast Pacific Ocean).
- Southern(southern waters of the ocean).
- Dwarf(Indian and South Atlantic).
- Indian(Indian Ocean). This subspecies is not always distinguished in classifications.
Each representative of these huge animals has impressive capabilities:
- Speed: 50 km/h – maximum, 37 km/h – normal, 5 km/h – when feeding, 2-6 km/h – grazing vomit (BlueWale).
- Power: 500 l. With.
- Dive depth: 100 m – normal condition, 500 m – during pursuit.
- Breath: 1-4 r./min. – usually adults, 5-10 rubles/min. – young, 3-6 r./min. - when pursued by whalers.
- Heartbeat: 5-10 beats/min, 20 beats/min. - during the chase.
- Voice strength: 188 dB – maximum, 20 dB – for communication with other individuals. (Audibility at a distance of 1600 km).
- Nutrition: capable of eating 3600 kg of krill.
- Record time spent under water: 36 minutes, but according to whalers the maximum is 50 minutes.
The largest whale on the planet is helped to feed by its baleen. This is something in the form of a brush or sieve that sifts out excess along with water. The mustache consists of more than 790 plates, each of which weighs 90 kg.
Such animals lead a solitary lifestyle and do not gather in a herd. At most, blue whales can unite with 2-3 brothers, and only in the feeding area there are 50-60 whales that stay apart.
Scientists are still debating the origin of these mammals. An interesting fact is that there are finger brushes on their fins, and the structure of their skeletons suggests that they do not look like fish at all.
Who is threatening the world's largest whales?
People can safely be considered a terrible and dangerous enemy of these mammals, but there are also natural threats in the form of evil killer whales. These predators attack the giant of the oceans in a flock of 30-40 individuals and tear it apart.
And in conclusion, I would like to convey a very important idea. The world's largest whales are dying painfully and slowly. We need to fight for their survival with all our might, otherwise we will cease to be human.
