All about the blue whale.
Anatomy of the blue whale.
The blue whales are the biggest animals in the world. They can have grey, blue, white or black skin. They weigh 3,000 pounds and their hearts weighs about the same size of a small piano, Their heart are 5 feet long and 400 pounds, 14 times bigger than a elephants heart. Their blubber is a thick layer of fat. It can vary from 1 inch deep or 11 inches thick. The blubber keeps the blue whale warm in cold areas of the ocean, it also keeps the organs safe in the whale. They also use it as energy. Their tongue is 200 pounds.
|
Blue whale's diet
The blue whale's diet is krill. They can eat 40 million krill a day! Krill is a very small animal, only 2 inches long but the blue whale eats 4 tons of it a day! That is a lot of Krill. Krill is dying because of the climate changes so it stays in the south. Blue whales filter their krill, a baleen is what they call it. But they also eat cope pod, what is very much like a shrimp. The cope pod are very important to the ecosystem in the ocean.
Life cycle and reproduction.
First, their life cycle starts when they are born. They are nursed for 6 or 7 months, and the calf grows very quickly. When they are young whales, they might go exploring out of their pods, but return to their mother mostly. On to reproduction, female whales mate with a few couple of male, meaning they have more chances to have calves. Not much is known about whale reproduction
Behavior
Lots of blue whales travel alone or in small groups, some whales travel in groups of 60. They go 14 miles per hour. When they sprint they go 30 miles. Whales migrate from their cold water to warm water for resources, too breed or to hunt in packs together. So no one gets left behind. Blue whales could feel emotion, people still cannot figure that one out, yet. Most of the time they hunt alone.
Appearance
The blue whale despite its name, has grey, blue or whitish, even black smooth skin also covered in blubber to keep warm. The adult blue whale weighs 3,000 pounds. It's skin is very smooth and they even have a light cover of unnoticeable light transparent fur. It's not very fuzzy but if you ever touch one, you might feel its fur like a brush.