The blue whale is the largest modern animal

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The blue whale (or blue whale) is the largest modern animal, and also probably the largest of all animals that have ever existed on Earth. Its length reaches 33 meters, and its mass can significantly exceed 150 tons. It is three times the size of the largest of the dinosaurs, and weighs as much as 2700 people combined.

A single blue whale tongue weighs more than an elephant, has a heart the size of a family car, and a stomach that can hold over a ton of food. In addition, the sound emitted by a blue whale is the loudest of all that a living creature is capable of producing: fellows can hear its low-frequency “hum” at a distance of more than 16000 km.

The huge size of the blue whale, according to the reviews of those who saw it, makes a strong impression. As one of the experts, who repeatedly observed these animals, noted:

“When you see a blue whale swimming by, it’s a bit like standing on a station platform at a passing train, hoping that the wind from the train won’t pull you under the wheels.”

The blue whale is the largest modern animal

wikipedia.org

The blue whale is the largest modern animal

Drawing of a blue whale versus a diver | flickr.com

With such a huge size, the throat of a blue whale in its diameter does not exceed its navel (with a saucer) and slightly less than its eardrum (about the size of a small plate).

For eight months of the year, blue whales eat almost nothing, but all summer they feed almost non-stop, absorbing three tons of food a day.

The blue whale is a typical plankton eater. Its diet is dominated by small (no more than 6 cm long) crustaceans that form mass accumulations – the so-called krill. This delicacy is very easily swallowed by the whale. Krill are conveniently served right into the whale's mouth in huge shoals, each of which can reach 100,000 tons or more.

The word krill comes from Norway. It comes from the Dutch kriel, which means "small change", but in modern language it is also used in the meaning of "pygmy" or "small potatoes". Krill sticks were in relatively good demand in Chile, but the so-called "shrimp mince" has become a real disaster for Russia, Poland and South Africa due to dangerously high fluorine content. Its source was the shell of a krill, too small to be scraped off each of the crustaceans before being put into a meat grinder.

Indeed, in the 70s and 80s, krill meat was extremely popular in the USSR and relatively affordable compared to other products. When it became known that excess fluoride is extremely dangerous to health, krill disappeared from the shelves of our stores. Fluorine accumulates in the bones and is the cause of many serious diseases, its excess provokes the removal of magnesium from the body, which, in turn, leads to a decrease in the calcium content – the basis of bones, which as a result begin to break down.

The blue whale is the largest modern animal

Model of a blue whale in the museum of the German city of Stralsund | wikimedia.org

In general, the blue whale shows a tendency to loneliness to a greater extent than all other cetaceans. The blue whale does not form herds, it is mostly a solitary animal, although sometimes blue whales form groups consisting of 2-3 heads.

The blue whale dives quite deep, especially if it is very frightened or injured. Data obtained by whalers using special devices mounted on a harpoon showed that a harpooned blue whale can dive up to 500 meters, and according to American data, a whale can dive up to 540 meters. Normal dives of a feeding whale rarely exceed 200 meters, and are more often no deeper than 100 meters. Such dives last from 5 to 20 minutes.

There are different estimates regarding the lifespan of the blue whale, this issue has not been fully clarified, but in any case, it is large: according to various sources, from 80 to 90 years, while the oldest known specimen was 110 years old. According to some scientists, these figures need to be verified, but in any case, in well-studied herds of blue whales, their life span is at least 40 years. The longevity of blue whales is emphasized, for example, by the fact that when calculating the dynamics of their numbers, the period of one generation is taken as 31 years.

The blue whale is the largest modern animal

Model of a blue whale near the National Museum of Science in Tokyo (Japan) | flickr.com

The blue whale is the largest modern animal

Life-sized inflatable blue whale at Liberty Square in Washington, DC, USA, erected to celebrate Earth Day | flickr.com

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the number of blue whales began to decline rapidly due to uncontrolled fishing. Whalers were attracted by the huge size of the carcass of this animal – from one whale you could get much more fat and meat than from any other cetacean. By the 1960s, the blue whale was practically exterminated and was on the verge of extinction – in 1963, no more than 5000 individuals remained.

At present, despite the conservation measures taken, the blue whale is still very rare – the total number does not exceed 10,000 individuals, and new conservation measures are required to maintain its stable population. The main threat to the vomit is the anthropogenic factor – a person violates their usual way of life and pollutes the seas and oceans. The slow natural reproduction of blue whales also significantly hinders the growth of their population. I would like to note that over the past decades, the number of these animals is still growing.