The Blue Whale

The Blue Whale is the largest animal to have ever existed — even bigger than any dinosaur. Adults can reach up to 100 feet long and weigh around 200 tons. That’s like 30 elephants combined. Their hearts alone weigh about 400 pounds and are the size of a small car.

Despite their massive size, blue whales feed almost exclusively on tiny shrimp-like animals called krill. During feeding season, a single whale can eat up to 4 tons of krill a day. They use filter feeding — gulping water and pushing it out through baleen plates that trap krill like a giant comb.

Blue whales communicate using ultra low-frequency sounds that can travel hundreds of miles through the ocean — possibly the loudest natural sound made by any creature.

They migrate thousands of miles yearly, from cold feeding waters to warm breeding grounds. Calves weigh about 3 tons at birth and drink 100 gallons of milk per day!

Once nearly wiped out by whaling, their populations are slowly recovering thanks to conservation efforts. Today there may be around 10,000 to 25,000 blue whales worldwide.

Even as the ocean’s giant, the Blue Whale is peaceful — moving gracefully through the seas, reminding us how vast and mysterious the ocean truly is.