The largest whale in the world. Maximum weight of a blue whale. Dimensions of the Blue Whale. How much does a whale weigh? From the life of whales How a whale lives

This huge animal inspires respect with its gigantic size. On average, the weight of an adult whale is 100 - 120 tons, i.e. as much as 40 African elephants weigh.

The largest animal on earth consumes about 1 million calories per day. This is approximately 1 ton of krill, which constitutes the main diet of the blue whale. In general, the blue whale is typical plankton eater: it feeds on crustaceans in the upper layer of water, plunging under water for 10-15 minutes. The crustaceans on which it feeds are concentrated in special areas called feeding fields. In such places you can see several whales at once, although they usually do not gather in groups of more than 3 individuals.

The blue whale is found in all open seas from the Arctic to the Antarctic, but avoids coastal waters, as well as tropical latitudes, preferring cold water. The southern subspecies of the blue whale is the most frost-resistant. It feeds in fields located at the edge of the Antarctic floating ice. The northern subspecies of the blue whale does not reach the drifting ice of the Artik.

Leading a solitary lifestyle, whales have developed their own way of communication, with the help of which they communicate with each other across vast distances of up to 1600 km. These are the famous whale songs, the volume of which reaches 188 decibels. The meaning of these songs is not fully understood, but scientists have noticed that whales “sing” during the breeding season, so perhaps singing is somehow connected with the family functions of animals. These songs last up to half an hour. At first it was believed that only males sing, but there is evidence that female blue whales also sing for their babies. The sound-reproducing system in animals is located in the front of the head and serves as a lens that captures and reproduces sounds. Since whales are practically blind and have no sense of smell, sound is the only means of communication with other individuals, and the only way of contact with the outside world. Therefore, whales are constantly busy analyzing surrounding sounds.

Whales are very smart animals. Their incredible intelligence and friendly nature have made whales very popular and interesting animals for science. Scientists generally believe that the brain of whales is more similar in capabilities to humans than the brain of any other animal.

Some structural features of whales have greatly interested doctors. Thus, whales do not have brain hemorrhages, due to the fact that in their heart there is a special shunt connecting two large arteries, which provides reliable protection against blockage of blood vessels, and as a result, against heart attacks.

The whale eye is also of interest to scientists. Firstly, because its size allows you to see what is impossible to see in the eye of a person or other animal. Secondly, the blue whale can dive underwater to great depths, and the structure of its eye is such that it can withstand enormous pressure. Having learned this secret, a person will help patients with glaucoma associated with impaired intraocular pressure.

There are currently no direct threats to blue whale populations. Hunting of animals is prohibited everywhere. The danger is posed by anthropogenic factors, disruption of the usual habitat and ocean pollution.

The largest mammal on earth is without a doubt the blue whale. To date, an even larger representative of the deep sea has not been discovered. The blue whale is impressive in size. Its length is almost 34 meters, and its weight is more than 200 tons.

However, the largest whale in the world has more than just a huge body size. He's just incredibly big internal organs. And only one tongue weighs so much that it’s hard to imagine: 4 thousand kilograms. Well, the heart of a blue whale weighs about 700 kilograms. However, such impressive sizes are not uncommon for the ocean. Few people know that back in 1870, the largest jellyfish was found off the coast of North America. The Cyaneus jellyfish was more than 35 meters long. To more clearly imagine its size, you can compare it with the height of a 9-story building.

3 ton baby

When a small whale is born (or more accurately, into the water), it already weighs about three tons. The length of the cub is comparable to a small tree - 6-7 meters. For a person, these are already unimaginable sizes, imagine Living being of such dimensions is difficult. Every year the whales only grow, and the small whale stretches out at great speed. At the same time, whales, according to various sources, can live up to hundreds of years. However, despite their active growth and life expectancy, whales produce offspring very slowly. Females of the largest whale in the world reach sexual maturity only at the age of ten, and they give birth no more often than once every two years. Mammals, unlike humans, carry the fetus for about 12 months. Despite such circumstances, powerful and noble mammals are now being destroyed mercilessly.

And they do this at such a speed that blue whales do not even have time to reach their maternal age, that is, they die in childhood. The largest whales now do not populate the oceans so abundantly; their population is decreasing exponentially. They are now on the verge of extinction. In Japan, for example, fishing is so intense that there are practically no whales left there.

Initially, the number of blue whales (this was before the start of intensive fishing) was estimated at 215 thousand individuals. But it is quite difficult to calculate the modern livestock. And the reason is quite simple. For many decades, these mammals were not very actively studied. According to data for 1984, no more than 1,900 whales live in the Northern Hemisphere, while in the Southern Hemisphere there are more - about 10 thousand heads. True, half of them are of the dwarf subspecies. Now, according to some data, there are no more than 2 thousand blue whales in the entire world's oceans. True, according to the calculations of other experts, the figures are more optimistic - at least 8 thousand individuals.

Killer whale victim

However, blue whales can die not only at human hands. The mammal can also become a victim of its marine neighbors. You might think that adult whales, due to their gigantic size, have no natural enemies. However, they may still fall out of favor with killer whales. The latter gather in schools, tear blue whales apart and eat them. And cases of attacks have already been recorded. So, in 1979, a pod of 30 killer whales attacked a young blue whale.

Killer whales rushed at their prey, tearing pieces off it. Moreover, the attackers did not even know where to bite - on the head, sides or back. And in 1990, two large whales were described that were seen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They had scars in the form of parallel stripes, judging by them, the mammals had traces of the teeth of killer whales.

Gray-blue

The color of the blue whale, surprisingly, is not blue, but mostly gray, but with a blue tint. And the mammal was nicknamed blue because when you look at a whale through the water, it seems exactly blue, or blue. At the same time, the fins and belly of the animal are lighter than the rest of the body.

Blue whales live in both warm and cold waters. These are polar and tropical seas. The creatures have no teeth, but despite this, they feed on all kinds of small sea creatures, for example, plankton or small fish. The largest whale in the world has a “baleen” for food. This is a device that looks more like a brush or a huge sieve. It is capable of passing through itself elements that are unnecessary for nutrition, and in addition, filtering water. A blue whale cannot eat a person, even if it really wants to. Therefore, the mammal is considered almost safe for humans. However, an inhabitant of the seas and oceans can easily overturn a medium-sized watercraft, not on purpose, but simply by accidentally hitting it.

Almost bipedal

There is a theory according to which whales came into the water from land. Proof of this is the structural features of the skeleton of a mammal, which does not really resemble a fish. The blue whale even has tufted fingers on its fins. Moreover, the blue whale does not lay eggs or spawn; it produces already living organisms.

Blue whale in nature

It is worth noting that whales have a very poor sense of smell and vision. Therefore, the largest whale in the world communicates with its fellows exclusively through sounds. And in order for other mammals to hear the cry, the whale has to put up to 20 hertz into the message. And this is enough to transmit information over a huge distance - individuals are able to hear each other at a distance of up to 800 kilometers and even more. However, if the whale overdoes it and screams with more or less force, then its brothers will not hear it. And whales are not capable of understanding anyone. For the most part, these mammals are loners.

The blue whale, as a rule, does not form herds. But sometimes mammals still gather in groups, but they are not numerous, only 2-3 heads. Only where there is a lot of food can large aggregations be found. However, even in such groups, blue whales stay apart from each other.

The largest whale in the world was caught

The mammal is not as maneuverable as other large cetaceans. Whales' movements are slow and clumsy. And they are active only in daytime days, this is evidenced by the fact that, for example, off the coast of California, individuals stop their movements at night. In general, the life of blue whales at night is still little studied.
Subscribe to our channel in Yandex.Zen

Which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Whales breathe air using their lungs, are warm-blooded, feed their young with milk from their mammary glands, and have some (albeit fairly minor) hair. The body is spindle-shaped, like the streamlined body of a fish. The fins, sometimes also called flippers, have a lobe-like appearance. At the end of the tail there is a standing fin in the form of a crest, which plays the role of a stabilizer and provides forward movement due to vertical movements.

The body of cetaceans is covered with smooth, shiny skin that facilitates gliding in the water. The head is very large and wide. The neck is so shortened that outwardly the boundary between the head and the body is not noticeable. There are no external ears, but there is an auditory canal, which opens through a small hole in the skin and leads to the eardrum. The eyes are very small, adapted to life in the sea. They are able to withstand high pressure when the animal is immersed to great depths; large, fatty tears are released from the tear ducts, which help to see more clearly in the water and protect the eyes from the effects of salt. The nostrils - one (in toothed whales) or two (in baleen whales) - are located at the top of the head and form a blowhole. In cetaceans, unlike other mammals, the lungs are not connected to the oral cavity. The animal inhales air, rising to the surface of the water. Its blood is capable of absorbing more oxygen than that of land mammals. Before diving into the water, the lungs are filled with air, which, while the whale remains under water, is heated and saturated with moisture. When the animal floats to the surface, the air it exhales forcefully, in contact with the cold outside, forms a column of condensed steam - the so-called fountain.

The order Cetacea is divided into two well-differentiated suborders: baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti). These suborders differ from each other in both morphological characteristics and behavior.

Baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti) got their name because of the long horny plates of the so-called. whalebone, located in their mouth instead of teeth.

The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is considered one of the oldest mammals - the age of the species is about 30 million years. The length of the female does not exceed 15 meters, and the male - 14.6 meters. The mass of this whale is 20-35 tons. The gray whale usually has a smooth belly, with only 2-4 deep grooves on the throat, diverging backwards at a slight angle. On the back, instead of a fin, there is a faintly visible hump. The head is small, 4.5-5 times shorter than the body length, compressed laterally. There are two regularly migratory populations of gray whales: the Okhotsk-Korean and the Chukchi-California. The first is almost exterminated; winters and breeds near Korea and Southern Japan, and fattens in the summer in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The second winters off the coast of the California Peninsula, and in the summer fattens in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, occasionally penetrating into the East Siberian Sea to Nolde Bay and east to Cape Barrow.

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest animal that has ever existed on Earth. The female is always larger than the male and reaches a length of 30 m with a mass of more than 100 tons. The color is not blue, but bluish-gray with irregularly shaped silver-gray spots. The belly is sometimes yellowish due to microscopic algae clinging to it. It feeds on planktonic crustaceans, absorbing up to a ton of food for each “meal”. The blue whale is distributed from the Chukchi Sea, Greenland, Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya to the ice of Antarctica. Winters in warm waters: in the northern hemisphere - at the latitudes of Southern Japan, Taiwan, California, Mexico, North Africa, the Caribbean Sea; in the southern hemisphere - at the latitudes of Australia, Peru, Ecuador, South Africa, Madagascar. The blue whale spends its summer in the waters of the Antarctic, North Atlantic, Bering and Chukchi seas. The blue whale is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The humpback whale, or humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), is a large animal with a dense, shortened body; the back and sides are blackish, and the belly color varies from black or mottled to white. The maximum length is approximately 15 meters. An individual 14 meters long can weigh over 40 tons. Humpback whales can be found in all oceans. Its herds migrate with the changing seasons and depending on the amount of food, spending the winter in tropical waters. It feeds on planktonic crustaceans and small fish. Humpback whales often jump completely out of the water in a vertical position and fall back with a deafening splash. However, this species is especially famous for the extensive repertoire of sounds it makes, “Humpback”; it was nicknamed by whalers for the way it arches its back while “singing.”

The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), also called the herring whale, is a large animal with a wedge-shaped head, a long slender body and a high dorsal fin set far back. The body is grayish-brown above and white below. The species is distributed in all oceans and migrates in herds ranging from a few to more than 100 individuals. Migrations are seasonal: the fin whale spends the summer in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the winter in warmer seas. It feeds mainly on planktonic crustaceans, less often on schooling fish, such as herring.

The sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) is less slender than the fin whale, its body is relatively thicker, its pectoral fins are shorter, and the dorsal fin is larger and more strongly pushed forward - towards the beginning of the rear third of the animal's body. The color of the back is dark gray, the sides are slightly light, and on the belly it is variable, varying from gray to partially white (but the entire underside is never white, like the fin whale). The sei whale is as widespread as the fin whale, but in the Arctic and Antarctic it usually avoids ice, appears there later than large species of minke whales, and is less regular in its migrations. The sei whale is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is very similar in white belly and body shape to fin whale calves, but appears thicker and has different body proportions (its length is 5-5.5 times its maximum thickness). Clearly distinguished by white, low (no higher than 25 centimeters) whisker plates, 270-330 in each row. The minke whale is distributed from the ice of the Arctic to the ice of the Antarctic. Most rare in the tropical zone. The species is listed in the International Red Book.

The bowhead or polar whale (Balaena mysticetus) reaches a size of 21 meters and a weight of up to 150 tons. Its huge head occupies a third of the body and is separated from the body by a clearly visible neck. The general coloration of adults is dark, sometimes with a white throat; in immatures it is grayish-dark. The skin on the body is smooth, without horny growths and bumps, and is not overgrown with barnacle shells. Living in the high latitudes of the Arctic, the bowhead whale perfectly navigates among floating ice and is capable of punching holes with its back in ice 20-30 centimeters thick. Once upon a time, there were three herds in the circumpolar range: Svalbard, West Greenland and Bering-Chukchi. At present, the first two herds have been almost completely exterminated, and the third has survived only in negligible quantities. Whales stay solitary and only very rarely gather several individuals together. Their main food is tiny calanus crustaceans (3-4 millimeters), and sometimes pteropods. The bowhead whale is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The southern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) differs from the bowhead whale in its smaller head, which occupies about 1/4 of the body length and is not separated by a cervical interception, a more complex bend of the oral slit (in the form of the Latin letter “S”, laid on its side) and the presence of a snout at the top one or more horny growths. The body color is usually entirely black, or, less commonly, white on the belly and sides, or piebald. These whales are common in temperate waters.

There are three known subspecies of the southern right whale: the Biscay whale (E.g. glacialis), which lives in the North Atlantic, the Japanese whale (E.g. japonica) from the North Pacific Ocean, and the Australian whale (E.g. australis) from the Southern Hemisphere. Some zoologists consider them to be separate species. The number of all three is very small due to centuries of barbaric fishing. The southern whale is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The pygmy whale (Neobalaena marginata) is the smallest and rarest of the baleen whales. It does not exceed 6 meters in length. The lifestyle of this rare whale has not been studied, the total number is unknown. Lives alone, mainly in the waters surrounding southern Australia and New Zealand, and apparently does not migrate far.

The suborder of toothed whales (Odontoceti) includes cetaceans with teeth, either on the front of the lower jaw or on both jaws (in some species the teeth are not functional). Males are usually larger than females. The main food of almost all species is fish or squid. Unlike baleen whales, toothed whales have an unpaired nostril.

The sperm whale (Physeter catodon) is the largest toothed whale: males reach 20 meters and females reach 15 meters. It is capable of diving to a depth of over 1.5 kilometers, remaining there for an hour, and then emerging without, apparently, experiencing any special overloads. The head, constituting a third of the total body length, is blunt in front and can be used as a huge battering ram; in the past, wooden whaling ships were damaged by such attacks. The long (5.5 meters) but narrow lower jaw bears from 8 to 36 pairs of strong conical teeth, each of which weighs approximately 1 kilogram. There are no more than 1-3 pairs of them on the upper jaw, and they are non-functional. The sperm whale can be recognized by its short, wide fountain directed forward and upward. Its main food is squid and cuttlefish, which it catches at the bottom using its long jaws. Adult sperm whales consume up to a ton of food per day. Animals migrate in herds of thousands.

Males are common to larger area than females, they migrate further than females and in the summer in the north they reach the Davis Strait, the Barents and Bering Seas, and in the south - Antarctica. Females live in harems, breed in the tropics and rarely leave the subtropical zone. In Russian waters, male sperm whales are most often found near the Kuril Ridge, in the southern parts of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, near the Commander Islands and Kamchatka, but are rare in the Sea of ​​Japan; in summer they reach the southern parts of the Gulf of Anadyr.

The dwarf sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) differs from the “simple” sperm whale by its small head, which is rounded in front compared to the body. The back and sides are black, the belly is lighter, the mouth is pink; the dorsal fin is sickle-shaped. The length of mature individuals is only about 4 meters, weight is approximately 400 kilograms. The lower jaw is narrow, with 8-16 narrow, pointed teeth on each side. This species also dives to great depths and hunts there for squid and cuttlefish. Dwarf sperm whales live in the warm zone of the ocean and are very rare. Singles come north to the coasts of Holland, France, the Nova Scotia Peninsula, Japan, Washington State, and south to the island of Tasmania, New Zealand, Imperial Bay (Chile) and the Cape of Good Hope.

The beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is characterized by a white or yellowish color; This species does not have a dorsal fin. Each side of the upper jaw bears 10, and the lower - 8 teeth. With them, the whale grabs and holds food, consisting of squid and fish. Adult males reach a length of 3.5-5 meters with an average weight of 900 kilograms, although in some individuals it exceeds 1500 kilograms; females are somewhat smaller.

The beluga whale is distributed in all seas of the Arctic and in the adjacent basins - the Bering and Okhotsk seas. In very severe winters it descends south to the shores of Japan, Great Britain, Massachusetts, and even enters the Baltic. There are three subspecies of beluga whales in Russian waters - the White Sea, Kara and Far Eastern.

The narwhal, or unicorn (Monodon monoceros), has an unusual feature - a long (up to 3 meters) ivory-colored tusk, twisted clockwise and protruding forward from the left half of the upper jaw. The body length of a mature narwhal is 3.5-4.5 meters. The coloration of adult individuals is dark, with numerous yellowish-white spots, but old whales can be almost white. The muzzle is rounded; no dorsal fin. Narwhals are inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean and the northern part of the Atlantic, although there are cases when they swam to the shores of England and Holland. The narwhal is listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

The belt teeth (Mesoplodon) reach an average length of 4.5-6.5 meters. The snout is elongated into a tapering, rounded beak. The head is small, narrow; the dorsal fin is small, moved far back. One of the distinguishing features is a pair of grooves on the throat. Belly teeth lead a more or less solitary lifestyle. They are often found in warm waters of both hemispheres. Their main food is squid and cuttlefish.

The beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) does not exceed 8 meters in length. Unlike other species, it has a short and conical beak, a low and sloping “forehead”, and a short mouth opening. The body color is variable, but gray predominates, becoming lighter on the belly and (in older individuals) on the head. White irregular spots ranging from 2 to 5-8 centimeters in diameter and long stripes are scattered throughout the body. The beaked whale is distributed in all temperate and warm waters of the world's oceans, from the latitude of the Shetland and Pribilof Islands to South Africa, Patagonia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, but is not numerous everywhere. Listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

Tasman's beaked whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi) received its scientific name from the Tasman Sea, where it was first discovered, and from the ancient Greek word "ketos" - whale. Almost nothing is known about this species, except that it has about 90 functional teeth, of which the two front ones on the lower jaw are bulbous. Currently, there are 8 known finds of this whale (6 in the areas of New Zealand, 1 in the waters of Argentina and 1 in Chile). This is a rare species of the family with almost unstudied biology.
The species is listed in the International Red Book.

The northern swimmer (Berardius bairdi) reaches a body length of up to 12.5 meters in females and up to 11 meters in males. The mass of the northern floater is 8-10 tons. The small head has a characteristic high spherical “forehead” and a highly elongated cylindrical beak. The upper jaw in the beak area is slightly narrower and shorter than the lower jaw, on which there are two pairs of strongly flattened (conical only in young individuals) teeth.
The body color is dark brown, barely lighter at the bottom, sometimes with white markings. These whales live in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean from Cape Navarin, the Alaska Peninsula and British Columbia to the latitude of Southern Japan and California. They occur in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and near the Kuril Islands, less often in the Sea of ​​Japan and the Bering Sea. The main food of swimmers is cephalopods, as well as bottom fish (rays and their eggs, sea ruffes, podonems, cod), crabs and large crayfish. The northern swimmer is listed in the International Red Book.

The high-browed bottlenose (Hyperoodon ampullatus) is commonly found in the North Atlantic from Davis Strait, Greenland and Barents seas, to the latitude of Northwestern Africa and the middle part of the United States. Found in the Mediterranean Sea, rare in the Baltic and White Seas. The size of males is up to 9.4 meters, females - up to 8.7 meters. The color is more or less uniform, somewhat lighter with age, especially on the head. The snout in front of the high “forehead” tapers pointedly. The “forehead” increases with age and descends vertically, and sometimes even overhanging, to the base of the beak. Bottlenose snakes live in flocks. In their diet and behavior they resemble the northern swimmer, which is replaced in the North Atlantic. Listed in the Red Book of Russia and the International Red Book.

A closely related species, the flat-faced bottlenose (Hyperoodon planifrons), is distributed in the southern hemisphere from the ice of Antarctica, South Georgia, South Orkney and Falkland Islands to the latitude of Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. Its jaw ridges and "forehead" are lower and its beak is shorter than that of the high-browed bottlenose. Listed in the International Red Book.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Blue whales are among the largest animals on our planet. According to literary data, the largest whale measured about 34 m in size and weighed about 180 tons. But most representatives reach a body length of no more than 30 m, with a mass of no more than 150 tons. Interestingly, females are slightly larger, and males weigh more.

The blue whale (Balaenoptera muscle) is the largest known animal on Earth.

The body of whales in the shape of a cone has a blue color with gray shades, and at depth the body of the whale takes on a beautiful aquamarine hue.

This species of whale swims in the cool underwater waters of the Pacific Ocean, as well as in the waters of Antarctica and the North Atlantic.

Given good climatic conditions and nutrition, animals live long, some of them live up to 100 years.
The diet of whales is different, depending on what part of the ocean they live in, mainly protozoa and algae that live in the water column, maybe crabs. During the day, especially in summer, a whale filters through its whiskers about hundreds of thousands of liters of water, which contains about 5 tons of food.

Blue whales belong to the baleen whale subspecies, with baleen on both sides of the mouth. The mustache is made of a strong and elastic material - keratin, similar in structure to a human nail. The outside of the mustache is more massive, passes through the mouth, and in the area of ​​the tongue turns into thin thread-like plates. The animal swallows a large portion of water and immediately blows it back out. Water flows out of the mouth, and food gets stuck in numerous plates, that is, they act as a kind of sieve.

Despite their large size, whales move well in the aquatic environment; when in danger, they can reach a speed of about 50 km/h, but usually they move at a speed of just over 20 km/h. Adults can go to depths of up to 100 m in search of food.

Blue whale - compare size to a human.

In the ocean, animals live in packs or alone. There have been cases where whales migrated in a column of 60 whales.
Female whales are capable of giving birth once every couple of years. They bring offspring in winter, swimming to warm waters near the equator, and feed their offspring in the waters of the northern part. The female usually often brings one baby, but cases of giving birth to two at once have been recorded. Babies are born weighing up to 5 tons, slightly less than 8 m long. Mothers feed the cubs with milk until they reach the age of 8 months; the cub gains about 100 kg per day.

Blue whales communicate with each other using peculiar sounds, and the sound lasts about half a minute. Scientists have noticed that sounds have different combinations and sequences; the duration of one combination can even last an hour. Sound waves are emitted by whales at a low frequency; many sounds are elusive to humans; only special hearing equipment helps them to be heard. Moreover, different populations of whales in different parts of the ocean produce sounds that are not similar to each other, and whales can sense a sound wave at a distance of just over a kilometer. Scientists suggest that this may be a special language of communication between whales and other animals of the underwater kingdom.

Blue whales are the largest animals on our planet: adults range from 24 to 30 meters in length, while females can exceed the size of males by up to 10 meters. In the XX century. they were almost completely exterminated due to commercial fishing. And only after a general ban on the destruction of whales did their numbers begin to gradually increase.

The upper part of the whale is a mottled blue-gray color, while the lower part is light gray or yellow-white. The yellowish tint of the animal's abdominal part is given by growths of microscopic unicellular seaweeds called diatoms. These plants are common in cold sea waters.

It is officially believed that the largest individual was a female, which was caught by whalers in the last century, 23 m 58 cm long. These animals can weigh up to 200 tons. For comparison, the weight of an African elephant is 7.5 tons. The heart of a blue whale is the size of a car, the beat of which can be heard 3 kilometers away. One of the species is the pygmy blue whale. They are three meters shorter than their larger relatives.

These animals have one incomparable quality: blue whales are the loudest animals on earth. The volume of their call signs reaches 188 decibels, which is significantly higher than the sound of a jet engine - 140 decibels. An animal can hear the song of a relative at a distance exceeding 1.5 thousand km.

In addition to their enormous size, the distinctive features of blue whales are a relatively small dorsal fin, a rounded part of the front of the skull and about 90 longitudinal grooves on the belly, reaching the navel.

Features of communication

Blue whales travel alone most of their lives, sometimes in groups of 2-3 individuals. Large flocks, which may include 60 animals, have been recorded in places where food accumulates.

But there is one “but” here. The blue whale has the strongest voice of all animals, the low frequencies of which can spread in the deep-sea environment for many hundreds and even thousands of kilometers. Therefore, what may seem to people like “solo” sailing, in reality, is not so. Thanks to the ability for such negotiations, a solitary whale is often in close contact and communication with its relatives.

Nutrition

Whales feed by diving every 10-20 minutes to a depth of about 100 meters. The stomach can hold about one ton of krill at a time. Its requirement for krill is about 4 tons daily during the summer feeding season.

In the mouth there is a so-called “whalebone” of black color. These are horny plates hanging from the upper palate, 300-400 pieces each. from each side. The length of the plates ranges from 50 cm in front to 100 cm in the back. To feed, the animals straighten the “whalebone” in their throats and take in water with krill, sifting it through the horny plates. The water is then released through the baleen and the remaining krill in the mouth is swallowed.

Life cycle

The female usually gives birth to one kitten every two to three years. Currently, this birth rate exceeds the rate of destruction of animals during hunting, which continues to this day.

At birth, the baby whale is the largest newborn animal on earth: it is 8 meters long and weighs about 4 tons. In this case, the female’s pregnancy lasts a year, and usually one baby is born. The cubs grow at a rate of 90 kg per day. Childhood ends at 7-8 months, after the animal reaches 15 m in length and learns to swim independently. Animals reach maturity at 5–10 years.

The growth rate of the blue whale is also amazing and is the highest in the animal kingdom. In just a year and a half, the size of tissues increases several billion times.

Like other cetaceans, blue whales do not have teeth. Therefore, it can be difficult for scientists to determine the age of an animal. It is believed that their average lifespan reaches 50 years, some individuals can live up to ninety, and the oldest animal is considered to have died at the age of 110 years.

Extermination of whales

Before the start of active whaling, the population of blue whales exceeded 250 thousand individuals. But in the 20th century. due to merciless hunting they were almost exterminated. Between 1904 and 1967, more than 350 thousand individuals were killed in the southern hemisphere alone. Many animals also died at the hands of Soviet whalers between 1960 and 1970.

The whales suffered especially hard in 1931, which marked the heyday of the fishery. This year, in just one whaling season, more than 29 thousand blue whales were killed. And only in 1967 the situation began to improve, when the world community stood up to protect animals, and whaling was banned.

Population today

Today, blue whales are distributed throughout the world. Their habitat includes all the world's oceans, with the exception of the Arctic Ocean. Blue whales are one of the most rarely seen species of cetaceans. Scientists still haven’t decided how many there are on earth. Their number ranges from 10 to 25 thousand.

One of the many populations of these animals that continues to grow at an encouraging rate is the population of whales that live in the North Pacific Ocean near the US state of California. The number of its representatives reaches 2 thousand.

This species, known as pygmy whales or pygmy whales, lives mainly in the Indian Ocean. Recent research suggests that these animals live in other areas of our planet.

Blue whales prefer to swim in deep ocean waters. In summer they migrate towards the poles, into cooler waters. In winter, the animals swim back towards the equator to warm waters to breed. Due to the fact that the seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres are opposite in time, populations of representatives living in different parts of the planet do not communicate or mix with each other.

Danger to whales

Most biologists have concluded that blue whales are the most endangered of all cetaceans. A serious danger for them is:

• water pollution with chemicals;
• a violation of the natural sound balance, due to which they are unable to find a mate;
• loss of permanent habitat;
• collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear.

Climate change could have a significant impact on food supplies, as global warming could shift the pH balance of seawater to acidic levels. This will affect the number of krill that the blue whale feeds on.

Due to climate changes in the frontal zones, the habitats of blue whales, there is a shift further south. In frontal zones, water can rise from the depths, bringing with it gigantic amounts of nutrients. This stimulates the growth of phytoplankton, and also creates conditions for the growth of populations on which the animals feed.

As a result of the migration of frontal zones over a distance of 200-500 km, blue whales are forced to migrate further to feed. Over time, such movements can significantly reduce the body's energy reserves and shorten the feeding seasons. As frontal zones move south, they reduce the areas where species of animals that provide food for blue whales can develop.