blue whales
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Blue Whales

Size:

Blue Whales are the largest animals on Earth. They can weight up to 150 tons. The average Blue Whale size is 70-85 feet long. The heart of a Blue Whale is the size of a sports car. The tongue weights up to 4 tons and can hold a full grown elephant alone.

Life Span:

Experts estimate that Blue Whales live up to 60 or 70 years but no one is quite sure. Their life span is threatened by hunters and some are attacked by Killer Whales.

Appearance:

Blue Whales don’t have fur they have smooth, bluish-gray skin. The skin is covered in oil. This causing them to move swiftly through the water at speeds reaching 30 miles per hour. Blue Whales are, of course, huge with rounded bodies and a powerful tail. Blue Whales, like all whales don’t have arm, they have flippers that look like huge paddles. They use their flippers to change directions in the water. Blue Whales have a dorsal fin on their back. Its job is to keep the whale from tipping while in the water.Blue Whales have a thick layer of blubber under their skin. The blubber keeps the whale warm. They need this becausse the loose 25 times more heat underwater then on land. The fin has two flukes, one on each side. They are both symmetrical and are flat and rigid and lie horizontally. The flukes move up and down while they swim. Flukes are usually 18 feet long. Blue Whales have to breathe too, so they have blowholes situated on the top of their heads. The blowholes have two openings. The blowholes are used to blow out stale air from the lung of the whale. The air comes out in a spray that can reach 30 feet high. The eyes of the Blue Whale are about the size of a grapefruit. Human and Blue Whale’s eyesight are about the same. Blue Whale’s don’t have teeth so they eat with the help of baleen. It will grow in strips on the upper jaw. They are lined together and when the whale opens its mouth the baleen acts as a filter, catching the little fish that go in with the water. Hearing is the Blue Whale’s most important sense. The Blue Whale’s inner ear sits inside a ball of spongy bone. The whale needs to hear by sound waves travelling through the water that enter through the jaw of the whale. The vibrations are carried to the inner ear which is floating in foam.

Communication:

The whale is the loudest animal in the world. Blue whale’s can be as loud as a jet plane, they make a long low sound and slap there tails on the water to communicate. The low moans they make last 15 - 35 plus seconds and can travel hundreds of mile through the water. Sending out information about a good food source or danger in the moans. The Blue whale also uses body language to communicate.

Calves and Mating

When Blue whales are born they are about 20 feet long will gain around 192 pounds aday. The whale has to be quick learners. Blue whales mate during the winter breeding season. The female Blue whale give birth to one calf every 2 - 3 years. The female will leave these areas to give birth in warmer waters. Calves can swim as soon as they are born. At birth they come out tail first so they can easily take there first breaths. Blue whale calves depend on there mothers for food and protection even though they are the size of many full - grown whale species, and for the next 8 months it feeds on mothers milk because its baleen is still growing.

Habitat:

Blue whales spend more time in the colder waters where they can find plenty of Krill to eat . Unfortunately when winter comes the water becomes too cold so they must migrate south . Blue whales live in the deep ocean and close to shores , continental shelves , and ice fronts . They spent a parts of each year in the Arctic and Antarctica water but they also spend part of they year in the warm water near the equator. The three blue whale populations live in the North Pacific, North Atlantic, and Antarctica. They gather more in Antarctica ocean, where the rich feeding grounds are.

Migration:

There are two main seasons for the blue whale the summer which is the feeding season and the winter breeding season. Southern blue whales migrate from Antarctica to Ecuador when the weather gets cold. During this time they will have their calves , when Southern blue whales are leaving their cold grounds the northern blue whales are leaving their warm grounds where they have a their calves . Both groups will have to travel hundreds of miles.

Food:

Krill is the Blue whales favorite food . But they also eat crabs and fish. This whale has a huge appetite and an adult needs to eat up to 4 tons of Krill everyday which is about 4 million Krill. When the Blue whales leave their feeding grounds they may not eat it for several months. To eat and they simply open their mouths up underwater and catch lots of Krill in their baleen.

Enemies

Blue whales are endangered and only because of hunters, although they are sometimes attacked by killer whales and eaten by them if the whale is starving.

Different facts

Blue whales sleep too , and when they sleep it is called ' logging '. While a Blue whale is logging you can see it floating just above the surface of the ocean water. When it needs to breathe it simply floats up and takes a breath . They will usually sleep in the middle of the day .

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