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THE BLUE WHALE
The blue whale is one of the most extraordinary creatures to ever have existed on the face of the Earth. Even by the super sizes of the dinosaurs, the blue whale is believed to be one of the largest, if not the largest, animals ever to inhabit the Earth. It is certainly the largest mammal ever to have lived.
But it’s not just the blue whales' size that makes them extraordinary to naturalists and animal lovers. The fact that they are very shy, rarely seen, and their numbers are estimated to be so low, makes them almost mystical creatures.
HOW LARGE ARE BLUE WHALES?
According to the American Cetacean Society, the longest blue whale ever caught was a 108-foot adult female captured in Antarctica. Typically, though, blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere reach lengths of 90-100 feet, while Northern Hemisphere blue whales are slightly smaller at 80 feet. There is no way that the blue whale could live life on land, as it is too heavy and needs the water to support its weight.
The blue whale has an almost U-shaped head and, unlike many other whales, does not appear to have quite so many barnacles or other parasites attached to its body, so they have a smooth surface. Its top fin, the dorsal, is relatively small in relation to its sheer size and is located quite a long way back on the body. The blue whale also has short flippers in relation to its total body length.
As you would expect from such a large whale, when a blue whale exhales, the spray from its blowhole can reach nearly 30 feet into the air.
WHAT DOES A BLUE WHALE EAT?
The blue whale is almost totally dependent on krill. Krill are small, shrimp-like animals that grow up to about six centimeters in length and are typically found in dense swarms. The word krill itself is a Norwegian phrase that actually means ‘whale food.’
In the Southern Ocean, krill are vital parts of the food chain, not just for blue whales and other whales, but for penguins, seals, squid, and fish. A blue whale is estimated to eat as much as four tons of krill a day. Due to their dependence on one species for food, scientists fear the blue whale could suffer if the krill population is depleted by fishing or global warming.
HOW MANY BLUE WHALES ARE THERE?
When whaling was at its peak in the early 19th century, the blue whales were safe from the Captain Ahabs of the world simply because they were far too big and far too fast to hunt in rowing boats with hand harpoons. But by the end of the 19th century, with the invention of the harpoon gun and steam ships, the size that had made them too much for earlier whalers now made blue whales a major draw because of the amount of oil that could be extracted from a single whale. The slaughter peaked in 1931, when over 29,000 blue whales were killed in one season. Experts believe that as much as 99 percent of the entire blue whale population was killed through whaling until it was made illegal in 1986.
Though real figures are difficult to come by, especially for solitary blue whales, which show a reluctance to approach ships, there are an estimated 5,000-10,000 blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere, and only around 3,000-4,000 in the Northern Hemisphere.
However, other figures suggest that there are less than 3,000 blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere. Some statistics show that the blue whale population is increasing slightly, though it is taking a long time to recover from the near-extinction that occurred in the early 20th century through commercial whaling.
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