Page 100 - World of Animals - Book of Sharks & Ocean Predators

Sharks & Ocean Predators
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Blue whale BLUE WHALE
Balaenoptera musculus
Class Mammalia

Territory All oceans except
the Arctic
Diet Omnivore
Meet the fearsome colossal whale whose Lifespan 60-80 years
Adult weight Up to 200tn
throat will only swallow small prey Conservation Status

The blue whale is not only the largest living animal; it is the largest animal ever known to ENDANGERED
have lived. Some of the dinosaurs may have come close, but these enormous mammals
reach adult lengths of up to 30 metres (100 feet), and weigh over 150 tons. Even newborn
calves are larger than most other full-grown animals, weighing an incredible 2.7 tons, and
they grow at an astonishing rate, putting on around 90 kilograms (200 pounds) every day
for the fi rst year.
On land, blue whales would be crushed by the weight of their own bodies, but
suspended beneath the water, their size has been less restricted by the effect of gravity.
Their internal organs are massively scaled up; their heart is the size of a car, and their
tongue weighs as much as the largest living land animal, the African elephant. Their
enormous size enables blue whales to make incredible low-frequency rumbling noises that Dorsal fi n
can be heard up to 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) away, making them the loudest animals Despite their large body

on the planet. size, the dorsal fin of a blue
whale can be as small as
The blue whale has a huge mouth, with a tongue large enough for 50 people to stand
8cm (3.1in) long.
on it, but their throats only allow them to swallow objects the size of a beach ball. The

majority of their diet is krill and like the world’s largest fish, the whale shark, the blue whale
is a filter feeder. It has large fingernail-like baleen plates lining its upper jaw, and feeds

by taking in a mouthful of water and then forcing it through the plates using its muscular
tongue, trapping the krill. At the richest feeding times of the year, a single individual can
eat up to 3.6 tons of krill every day.

How big?

Weight 1 blue whale = 130 family cars

Length 1 blue whale = 2.5 double-

decker buses

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