The Blue Whale

Whale come to the surface to breathe. The spout of presurtzed steam that rises into the air is one way to recognize their presence.

Although blue whale feed in deep water, they are still mammals, and must come to the surface to breathe. They exhale air in a cloud of pressurized steam that rises straight up for about 20 feet.

ORDER Cetacea	FAMILY Balaenopteridae	GENUS & SPECIES Balaenoptea cetacea
*The blue whale is the largest mammal ever to have lived on earth. Amazlingly, it feeds on some of the smallest ocean life--plankton.* FEATURES OF THE BLUE WHALE * The Blue whale is, and always has been, the largest animal ever to exist on earth. * This whale can grow to a length of 33m (110ft) and weigh 190 tonnes but on the average it is much smaller. * The Blue whale is called a "rorqual" a Norwegian word for "furrow" and refers to the pleated grooves running from its chin to its navel. * The throat grooves, in addition to streamlining the shape of the whale, allow the throat area (cavum vent-rale) to expand tremendously during feeding, and can hold 1,000 tons or more of food and water when fully expanded. * By taking tonnes of water into its mouth and filtering out the fish or krill with its baleen plates a medium-sized Blue whale can eat over 4 tons of krill a day. * The head of the Blue whale forms up to a quarter of the total body length and compared with other rorquals is very broad. It has twin blowholes with exceptionally large fleshy splashguards to the front and sides. * The baleen plates in the mouth of the Blue whale can be 90cm-1m (35-39in) in length the longest of all the rorquals but not the longest of all whales. KEY FATS SIZE Lenght: Males verage 82 ft. Females, 85 ft. Weight: 175,000-285,000 lb. BREEDING Sexual maturity: Males at a lenght of 74 ft. Females at 75 ft. Mating: Most females breed only once every three years. Gestation: 11-12 months. No. of young: Single caft. LIFESTYLE Call: Low-frequency moan. Produce ultrasonic chirps and whistles when feeding. Habit: Scocial and migratory. Diet: Plankton. Lifespan: 80 years. RELATED SPECIES Pygmy blue whale (8.m.beviczudo) are thought to live in the southern India ocean.

BREEDING
Blue whales from close ties with one another and are often seen in groups of two or four. Mating takes place in the warm waters of the topics, where the young are born. The mother gives brirth to a single calf with the aid of other females, who help her deliver the calf and then nudge the newborn to the surface for its first breath of air.

At birth, the calf measures about 23 feet and weights 16,000 pounds. The baby is suckled in the water, drinking more than 160 gallions of milk a day. At 7 months, it is able to catch its own food.

HABITAT Like other marine mammals, blue whales are descended from early land animals. Millions of years ago, the richness of the life in the sea lured them to water, and aquatic life gradually changed their physical characteristics. Today, they spend most of their time in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, where plankton is plentiful. In winter, the whales migrate to the warm waters of the tropics. But food in the tropics is scarce, so the whales depend on their thick layer of blubber for nourishment.
MIGRATION Blue whales generally migrate between rather restricted summering grounds (the polar seas of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres), where they feed, and low latitude, warmer sub-tropical and tropical wintering grounds to breed. For unknown reasons some animals may not undertake the full journey every year, and some may be resident in certain waters year-round. Some blue whales migrate right up to the ice edge in the polar waters; it is generally the bigger and older animals which go to the highest latitudes. FOOD & HUNTING In the Antarctic, blue whales feed on vast quantities of a plankton called krill. In Arctic waters, they feed on only three species of crustacean (shelled) plankton. Icy water contains more oxgen and carbon dioxide than warm water, which makes it rich in marine life. Plankton is up to twenty times more abundant in the Arctic and Antarctic than it is in the warm waters of the tropics. In spite of its bulk, the blue whale can reach speeds of 10-15 knots. But it catches most of its food by diving. It can dive to depths of 1650 feet and lie submerged for up to 2 hours. Rising from the depths, the whale feeds by collecting a large amount of seawater in its mouth and then straining out the plankton. WHALES & MAN Because of its great size the blue whale was a prime target for the whaling industry. Its body was a source of oil and the baleen was used to make women's corsets. Antarctic whalers slaughtered 30,000 blue whales from 1930 to 1931. The population has since recovered, but there are probably less than 10,000 alive today; they are now protected. DISTRIBUTION & CONSERVATION Limited scattered areas all around the world; mainly based in Arctic and Antarctic waters. Since 1986, commercial whaling has largely stopped and blue whales now show signs of breeding success. Still, it will take a century of protection before they are out of danger of extinction.
SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS Instead of teeth, the blue whale has a row of plates in its mouth, known as beleen, which functions as a food-collecting device. The mouth and baleen work like a straner, holding up to 5 tons of water and plankton with each mouthful. The blue whale has approximately 320 baleen plates, measuring 40 inches long by 22 inches wide. Long bristles on the end of each plate hold the minute prey. Having forced the water out of its mouth, the whale licks the plankton off with its fleshy tongue.
DID YOU KNOW ? The biggest blue whale ever recorded was 102 feet long. The heaviest one recorded weight 390,000 pounds. Blue whales were once called sulphur-bottom whales by sailors because their bodies became covered with algae which was greenish-yellow like sulphur.

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