Blue Whales on Explore the Wild
Explore the Wild is a Nature series produced by www.VideoFort.com in partnership with REP Interactive. In this series, VideoFort will take you on a tour of the world's most exotic locations and teach you about the planet's most exotic animals. In this episode on Explore the Wild, we feature Blue Whales. You will learn interesting facts about the species and their natural habitat.
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Blue Whales
The blue whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales.
The blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, weighing as much as 200 tons (approximately 33 elephants). The blue whale has a heart the size of a VW Beetle. Its stomach can hold one ton of krill and it needs to eat about four tons of krill each day to survive. They are the loudest animals on Earth, even louder than a jet engine. Their calls reach 188 decibels, while a jet reaches 140 decibels. Their low frequency whistle can be heard for hundreds of miles and is probably used to attract other blue whales.
Blue whales can reach speeds of 31 mph over short bursts, usually when interacting with other whales, but 12 mph is a more typical traveling speed. When feeding, they slow down to 3.1 mph.
Blue whales most commonly live alone or with one other individual. It is not known how long traveling pairs stay together. In locations where there is a high concentration of food, as many as 50 blue whales have been seen scattered over a small area. They do not form the large, close-knit groups seen in other baleen species.
Whales are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. During the 20th century, the blue whale was an important whaling target and even after it was protected and commercial whaling stopped in 1966, exploitation efforts by the former Soviet Union persisted. A 2002 report estimated there were about 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide, located in at least five groups.
Like other large whales, blue whales are threatened by environmental change including habitat loss and toxics. Blue whales can also be harmed by ship strikes and by becoming entangled in fishing gear. Although commercial whaling no longer represents a threat, climate change and its impact on krill (shrimp-like crustaceans), blue whales' major prey, makes this cetacean particularly vulnerable.
