The Blue Whale – Larger Than The Biggest Dinosaur

Blue Whales are by far the largest animals that have ever lived on earth – far bigger than the largest dinosaurs. They have been weighed up to 180 tons which is 20,000 pounds heavier than a DC-10. The world’s largest elephants only weigh a bit over five tons.

Blue Whales have been measured by scientists up to 100 feet long, although today the largest average around 75 – 80 feet. They have been measured at more than 110 feet – compare that to the longest dinosaur skeleton of less than 90 feet from tail to nose.

Interestingly, one of the smallest seabirds on earth, Cassins Auklet, and the Blue Whale, the largest animal ever to have lived on earth, both subsist primarily on the same prey: krill. Blue Whales are baleen whales. Instead of teeth, they have a series of flexible plates called baleen that they use to strain up to four tons of these tiny shrimp like crustaceans from the ocean each day.

Blue Whales sometimes cross-breed with Fin Whales which are the second largest animals on earth. At least four of these unique hybrid whales exhibiting characteristics of each parent have been documented by scientists by analyzing DNA.

Blue Whales are often found alone or with one other Blue Whale. We do not know for sure how long Blue Whale pairs might stay together because it is so difficult to track them as they cross entire oceans. Blue Whales can rarely be found in groups 45 whales if there is a lot of food (krill) in the area – however this is very rare because they do not usually form large pods like some other species of whales.

Blue Whales are very strong swimmers and usually travel at 12 miles per hour. When they are excited they have been clocked at 30 miles per hour!

The Guinness book of world records claims that the heartbeat of a Blue Whale can be heard for 19 miles ” thats totally untrue; nobody can hear the heartbeat of a Blue Whale from 10 feet, let alone 19 miles.

In the 1800′s there were hundreds of thousands of Blue Whales all over the world. Then man developed weapons such as guns and exploding harpoons an proceeded to nearly eliminate these wonderful animals in the early twentieth century. Blue Whales were hunted mercilessly for 40 years until they were nearly extinct. Protection began in 1966 and their population is slowly recovering with perhaps 6,000 to 8,000 Blue Whales left worldwide today.

Blue Whales are still found all over the world. The waters off Southern California and Baja Mexico are home to perhaps 25% of the worlds population. They are most often seen in SoCal in spring and summer being a favored feeding ground.  Experts still don’t know for sure where they breed or give birth. They are known to frequent feeding grounds in tropical, moderate and cold polar oceans, and it is suspected that they give birth in these warmer climates.

About the Author

Terry Hunefeld retired from a CEO career in 2007 to follow his bliss of sailing the ocean to observe seabirds and mammals. He and his wife Ann own the lovely Inn at Moonlight Beach on the Pacific Ocean of San Diego. If you would like to stay at a Bed and Breakfast in Del Mar or a Bed and Breakfast in Carlsbad, be sure to check out Inn at Moonlight Beach.

The Blue Elephant.avi

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