Whales
Blue Whales The Blue whale is the largest creature of the sea; in fact, it's the largest creature known to man. Contrary to what most people think, even though Blue whales live in the sea, they are mammals. They breathe air, have their babies born alive, and can live anywhere from 30 to 70 years. The Blue whale is a baleen whale, and instead of having teeth, Blue whales have around 300-400 baleen plates in their mouths. Baleen are rows of coarse, bristle-like fibers used to strain plankton from the water. Baleen is made of keratin, the same material as our fingernails. The Blue whale is called a "rorqual", a Norwegian word for "furrow" referring to the pleated grooves running from its chin to its naval. The pleated throat grooves allow the Blue whale's throat to expand during the huge intake of water during filter feeding; they can "hold 1,000 tons or more of food and water when fully expanded" (Small 1971). They average about 50-70 throat grooves. Blue whales grow up to about 80 feet (25m) long on average, weighing about 120 tons. The females are generally larger than the males, this is the case for all baleen whales. "The largest specimen found was a female 94 feet (29m) long weighing more than 174 tons" (Satchell 1998). The h
Diving is also the way in which whales catch most of their food. The blue whale's skin is usually blue-gray with white-gray spots. However, there are many factors that limit the life span of the Blue whale. The majority of Blue whales live in the Southern Hemisphere. Blue whale breeding occurs mostly in the winter to early spring while near the surface and in warm waters. Krill, or shrimp-like euphasiids are no longer than 3 inches. They are also very fast swimmers; they normally swim 3-20 mph, but can go up to 24-30mph in bursts when in danger. The newborn calf is about 25 feet (7. These songs may be used for locating large masses of krill (tiny crustaceans that they eat) and for communicating with other blue whales. They also have a very small, falcate (sickle-shaped) dorsal fin that is located near the fluke, or tail. The smaller populations inhabit the North Atlantic and North Pacific.
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