Worlds largest animal is the blue whale. The blue whale is a wonderful marine creature that is mostly found in the Antarctic Ocean, North Atlantic, North & South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. It belongs to the mammal family. The blue whale has also been listed as endangered animals.
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Before the 20th-century blue whales were available in sufficient numbers almost in all the oceans. From the beginning of the 20th-century people started hunting blue whales to get fish oil and very soon it became an endangered species. However, many projects are going on to protect this amazing species from getting extinct forever.
There are a lot of interesting facts about the blue whale. It will be really useful to know these facts about the largest animal on Earth. Before we go ahead on discussing the interesting facts about the blue whale, let’s get a brief idea about the importance of the blue whale.
Pic credit -nhm.ac.uk
Understanding the Importance of blue whale
As we know the blue whale is also an endangered animal and environmentalists are doing a lot of effort to protect this huge animal. Do many people think that why are blue whales important?
Why is it important to save the blue whale? Well, to get the answer to this question, you must go through this page to know the importance of the blue whale.
The blue whale is not only the biggest animal of this planet but it is also an important creature of the marine ecosystem.
The importance of the blue whale is incredible in terms of maintaining a proper balance in the food chain of the marine ecosystem.
Blue whale species helps in regulating the balance among certain marine animal species so that they do not overpopulate the ocean life.
Blue whales play an important role in maintaining the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere indirectly. They excrete iron-rich poo in the ocean water which is one of the main food sources for phytoplankton underwater.
This phytoplankton helps in removing almost half of the world’s carbon from the atmosphere.
Blue whales greatly affect the tourism industry which is also very important for the economic growth of some countries.
Watching the blue whale is one of the most trending activities across the globe. People come from different parts of the planet to watch one of the most beautiful creations of nature.
Facts about the appearance of the blue whale
The colour of the body of the blue whale is bluish-grey, however, it looks absolutely blue underwater. This is why we call it a blue whale.
The blue whale weighs approximately 150 to 200 tonnes.
Blue whale’s mouth has a number of plates that look like bristles. They use these bristles to filter its food from the water.
Blue whales have an amazing ability i.e. blowhole like our nose. This blowhole helps it to breathe. The blue whale comes up to the surface every 5 to 15 minutes to exhale air out of its blowhole. The pressurized vapour rises almost 9 meters or 30 ft. up in the sky.
The blue whale has a huge tongue which almost weights equal to an elephant.
One of the most interesting facts about the blue whale is that its heart also very huge similar to a medium-sized car. The blood vessels of its heart are so big that a baby can crawl through them.
Blue whales have an in-build thermal insulator that helps to keep it warm under cold water ocean.
The reproductive cycle of a blue whale is quite slow i.e. the breeding of blue whale occurs only once every 3 years.
The weight of a baby whale is almost 3 tons and its length is approximately 25 ft. A baby whale drinks almost 100 gallons of milk every day and gains almost 200 pounds weight on daily basis during its first year after birth.
Pic credit -phys.org
Facts about the behaviour of the blue whale
It is quite an interesting fact about the blue whale that it behaves very friendly in the water. It also likes to make a few friends.
Although most of the time it swims alone in the ocean sometimes it comes in a pair or a small group to hunt for food.
The loudest animal found on earth is Blue Whale. Blue whale makes quite loud noise up to 188 decibels which is almost louder than the noise of a jet engine.
During mating time, an adult blue whale communicates in a loud & low pitched mating call that can be heard from long distances.
Blue whales communicate with a low-frequency sound that one can hear its sound at a distance far away from 1,600 km.
Blue Whales migration pattern is very diverse nature. There is no defined and particular pattern. Many whales like baleen whales are observed to migrate every year between cold water feeding habitat to warm-water breeding habitat.
Whereas, some other blue whales have been seen to appear year-round residents of high productivity.
Some others migrate to cold water for feeding and once the feeding period ends they come back to warm water for safe birthing.
Blue whale uses half of its brain when it sleeps. It sleeps while swimming.
Facts about the food habits of the blue whale
A very interesting fact about the blue whale is that in spite of its biggest size blue whale eats krill. Krill is nothing but the small aquatic life-form similar to shrimp.
The blue whale can eat up to 40 million krill every day to fulfil its dietary requirement.
Blue whales are mostly found in the Arctic Ocean. Due to the high concentration of krills in that area as krills are their only food.
The blue whale has a very small sized oesophagus. This is why it does not consume larger food items. As they cannot chew or break down its food into small pieces.
Pic credit-amnh.org
Facts about the status of the blue whale
- There was a time (in pre-whaling eras) when blue whales were found in ample numbers in the world’s oceans, approximately 250,000 in numbers.
Blue Whale was immensely hunted in the1990 to obtain whale oil. This hunting affected its population quite badly that now has entered into the list of endangered animals.
Later on, in 1966 International Whaling Commission came forward to give protection to this endangered species. They took the conservation of blue whales into serious consideration to save this amazing animal for upcoming generations.