Blue whale biography
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11 Facts About Blue Whales, the Largest Animals Ever on Earth
Mysterious, enormous, and grundläggande to our marine ecosystems, blue whales have been roaming our oceans for centuries. The planet fryst vatten covered with amazing, fascinating creatures, but the blue whale fryst vatten in a league of its own.
Balaenoptera musculus is the largest djur ever known to have lived on the planet, including all dinosaurs. Even at birth, it's bigger than adults from most other djur species. However, that's just the tip of the iceberg of blue whale knowledge that's compelling, confounding, and maybe even a bit mind-blowing.
1. Blue Whales Can Grow More Than Feet Long
Blue whales are gigantic, generally ranging in length from 80 to feet (24 to 30 meters). The longest accurately measured blue whale fryst vatten a kvinna who clocked in at 97 feet ( meters)—but there are reports of blue whales that reached feet (33 meters) in length. Just how big is that? Imagine three school buses back-to-back!
2. They C
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Blue whale swimming in the ocean. Credit: NOAA Fisheries
About the Species
Blue whale swimming in the ocean. Credit: NOAA Fisheries
Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on our planet. They feed almost exclusively on krill, straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates (which hang from the roof of the mouth and work like a sieve). Some of the biggest individuals may eat up to 6 tons of krill a day.
Blue whales are found in all oceans except the Arctic Ocean. There are five currently recognized subspecies of blue whales.
The number of blue whales today is only a small fraction of what it was before modern commercial whaling significantly reduced their numbers during the early s, but populations are increasing globally. The primary threats blue whales currently face are vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear.
NOAA Fi
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Blue whale
Baleen whale, largest animal ever known
For other uses, see Blue whale (disambiguation).
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of &#;m (98&#;ft) and weighing up to &#;t ( long tons; short tons), it is the largest animal known ever to have existed.[a] The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue on its upper surface and somewhat lighter underneath. 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 a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies.
In general, blue whale populations migrate between their summer feeding areas near the poles and their winter breeding grounds near the tropics. The