The blue whale is the largest living animal in existence. In fact, a blue whale can measure as long as two 18 wheeler trucks! If you’ve ever looked straight up at a 10 story building, you’ll have a good idea of how long a blue whale can be.
This massive marine mammal can reach lengths over 100 ft. and weigh more than 150 tons! Even their children are big and can easily measure in at over 23 ft long at birth, comparable in size to an adult killer whale and roughly 1/3 the length of the mother’s entire body.
Eating
Despite the blue whale’s massive size, its primary diet consists almost solely of krill, a tiny sea creature that measures in at a meager 1 – 2 centimeters on average. However, some species of krill can reach a maximum length of around 6 inches. To maintain their food supply (blue whales can consume as many as 40 million krill per day), these whales are often found in areas where krill is largely abundant.
Some of the locations blue whales can be found living in include Antarctica, the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, and the Indian Ocean.
The blue whale belongs to the baleen whale suborder and is known as a filter feeder. These large whales do not have teeth like toothed whales, so instead, they hunt their food by swimming towards it with their mouth open and engulf as many krill as possible. Once they’ve captured as many small krill as they can fit in their mouth, they push the excess water out of their huge mouth with their tongue.
To keep the krill from escaping, they have baleen plates with bristles attached. The baleen bristles look similar to the bristles found on a comb and act as filters by allowing water to pass through the openings while remaining packed tightly to prevent food from escaping.
Interestingly despite this animal’s massive size, they have relatively small throats, so small in fact (less than 12 inches) that it would be impossible for them to swallow an average-sized person. While these whales can be seen traveling in most of the world’s major oceans, they tend to prefer colder climates where large abundances of krill live in large quantities.
Traveling
Depending on the year’s time, these marine mammals will migrate from one location to the next to feed or mate. When mating season comes around during the colder months, these whales travel thousands of miles from their feeding grounds to their mating grounds and may completely forgo eating the entire trip, which could last as many as four months. During these long migration trips, blue whales are very laid back and relaxed when swimming.
On average blue whales are known for traveling an average of around 5 miles per hour, although they can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour when they feel threatened. The slow swimming speed helps these enormous animals conserve their energy, which is important since they eat very little or no food at all.
During mating season, blue whales can be heard performing whale songs, which males can use to attract a female to mate with. Once all of the whales mate, it takes an average of 10 – 12 months for the female to give birth. From what little is known about the blue whale’s mating habits, it is thought that the female whale gives birth to a single offspring once every 2 – 3 years while she is fertile.
Also, mating in their mating grounds is the place where they give birth to their young. The warmer temperate waters provide a stable and secure place for these whales to give birth with minimum issues. Note: Despite being given the name “killer whale,” these marine mammals are actually the largest animals in the dolphin family.
Giving birth
As stated earlier, it takes an average of 10 – 12 months for a mother to give birth once she becomes pregnant. While inside the mother’s stomach, the baby is fed nutrients through a tube known as an umbilical cord.
The tube helps the child receive food and other important nutrients and helps remove bad chemicals and waste from the child’s body to grow up to be healthy and strong.
Once the child is born, the mother will care for her child and nurse it by giving the baby milk. She may continue to feed her child milk for the first 6 – 9 months of its life or until it can feed on its own and separate from its loving bond with its mother.
As the child develops and grows into a young adult, it can repeat its parents’ process and give birth to its own child. A healthy blue whale will usually reach maturity (the age when it can begin mating) between 5 and 10 and can live up to 90 years.
10 Interesting blue whale facts for kids
- When fully grown, a 180-ton blue whale can weigh as much as 24 adult elephants; in fact, their tongue alone can weigh as much as an elephant. (elephants can weigh as much as 15,000 lbs!)
- Blue whales can consume up to 8,000 lbs or 4 tons of krill daily.
- A baby blue whale can consume up to 150 gallons of milk per day during its first year of birth.
- When searching for food, the blue whale has been recorded diving deeper than 300 ft. Holding its breath for more than 35 minutes (most dives last 10 – 20 minutes or less).
- The blue whale isn’t truly blue in terms of color; it’s actually a grayish-blue coloring that appears deep blue only after the whale dives under the water.
- When startled or threatened, these marine mammals can reach speeds over 30 mph for short bursts; however, they manage an average speed of 3 – 12 mph in most cases.
- The only natural predator to the blue whale is a pack of hungry killer whales. However, these attacks are fairly rare, more often performed on young children and/or smaller blue whales than large adults.
- Because of their large size, blue whales often travel alone or in small groups. Their large size provides these marine mammals with excellent defense as their massive body deters most predators from attempting to attack them.
- During long migrations, the blue whale is known to fast for as long as four months and live off stored body fat accumulated during the feeding season.
- Blue whales can communicate with one another from as far as 1,000 miles away due to their loud vocals and excellent hearing.