Who is more blue. The big blue whale is the giant of the planet Earth. Description and photo of the blue whale. Blue whale breeding

The largest mammals on earth are whales. The results of weighing these giant inhabitants of the world's oceans are truly impressive.

It is hard to believe that such massive animals can move in the water as quickly and gracefully as whales can do.

Interesting fact: scientists have established that whales are descended from ancient land mammals from the order of artiodactyls.

The closest living relative of the whale is the hippopotamus, they descended from a common ancestor who lived tens of millions of years ago. Then, 50 million years ago, the whales moved to the ocean, and the hippos preferred to stay closer to land and fresh water.

How much does the largest whale weigh?

The largest whale caught by humans, of which there is reliable evidence, was a female blue whale, caught in 1926 near the South Shetland Islands. The weight of the record holder was 176,792 kg; however, some researchers claim that in fact she was never weighed, and her weight was calculated approximately. The length of this individual exceeded 33 meters, which is also a record.


According to some reports, in 1947, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the island of South Georgia, whalers caught a blue whale weighing 190 tons. There is also information about the capture of a whale weighing 181.4 tons.

What is the weight of a blue (blue) whale?

Whales are the largest mammals on the planet, and the largest of all cetaceans is the blue whale, which is also called the blue whale, or blue whale. The dimensions of these giants can reach 33 meters, and the weight can significantly exceed 150 tons. With such an impressive size, the blue whale is a rather harmless creature: although it is a predator, it feeds exclusively on plankton.

The favorite delicacy of blue whales is krill - small crustaceans, the length of which does not exceed 6 centimeters. If the whale swallows something larger, then it does it by accident, while eating plankton masses.

Females in vomits are noticeably larger than males: in the Southern Hemisphere, the average length of these animals is 24.5 meters for females and almost 24 meters for males, in the Northern Hemisphere these sizes are 1 meter less.

There is an opinion that last years whales were greatly reduced as a result of hunting for them - the attention of whalers is primarily attracted to large individuals, so they die more often and leave fewer offspring than their more modest relatives.


Some experts argue that earlier among blue whales, individuals up to 37 meters long were often found.

The maximum weight of the largest representatives of this species is a rather controversial issue, since not every whale caught can be accurately weighed, and not every weighing result is officially recorded, but there are reports of whales weighing up to 190 tons.

Not all experts agree with this figure, but they all agree that 150 tons are far from the limit for vomit.

How much does a whale's heart weigh?

The heart of the blue whale is the largest heart in the entire world. The weight of an adult heart is 600-700 kilograms, the normal pulse for these giant hearts is 5-10 beats per minute. In the tallest whales, the heart can weigh almost a ton. The amount of blood in large specimens exceeds 8 thousand liters.

Not only the heart of the blue whale, but also its other internal organs, differ in gigantic size. For example, the lung capacity of an adult whale is over 3,000 liters.


Thanks to such powerful lungs, these animals are distinguished by extremely loud voices and can exchange sound signals at a distance of up to 33 km.

We rarely encounter wild animals in our lives, so most often we simply forget how big they can be. Cats, dogs, birds, less often - cows or horses - against their background, a person can really seem like the king of nature. Tsarkom ...

But as soon as you move away from civilization, everything immediately falls into place: crocodiles, 7 meters long, elephants, sea and land, bears, giraffes, hippos, gorillas ... it’s hard to keep the crown on your head next to you. But still, there is a creature on Earth that can easily plug them all into a belt - a whale.

Underwater giants

These giants live underwater, where the laws of gravity don't operate as tightly as they do on the surface. This allowed them to grow to such an impressive size that only dinosaurs managed to outdo it, and even then not all of them. And the world's largest whale swims the seas right now.

This is quite interesting, because most of the creatures that exist today are small copies of those that inhabited the planet earlier. Ancient whales, on the contrary, were much smaller. This is easy to explain: they were not born waterfowl, but changed their legs to flippers and fins during development. Accordingly, relatively small animals descended under the water, which, once in favorable conditions, began to gradually change their shape to a hydrodynamic one.

Being underwater kings, they still breathe air, bear and give birth to cubs, even have hands and feet, however, atrophied. These are only external signs, experts will list a dozen more.

But not all whales can boast of such sizes, among them there are relatively small ones. But the greatest interest is still huge whales. Let's talk about them in more detail.

Blue whale

AT this moment the blue whale is the absolute champion in size. Try to imagine: the length of his body is up to 30-35 meters (recall, 30 meters is the approximate height of a nine-story building). The mass of such a giant can reach 100-150 tons. Of course, most representatives of the species are somewhat smaller, but there were also larger specimens.

For example, a case was documented when a 190-ton female was caught by whalers, there were also smaller ones, for example, a 178-ton specimen and many others.

And that's just the tail...

Some researchers claim that today's blue whales were slaughtered, blaming the barbaric extermination that reduced the number of whales from 275 (19th century, before the start of fishing) to 5,000 (1994). According to the stories and reports of whalers, at the beginning of the fishery, larger specimens were also encountered, so the longest whale could reach 40 meters, and 37-38 meter individuals met regularly.

Scientists distinguish three subspecies of blue whales: southern, northern and pygmy. As is most often the case, the southern ones are the largest, the northern ones are slightly smaller. The “dwarf blue whale” sounds the funniest of all, because on average this “dwarf” is only 3 meters shorter than its larger counterparts.

The fin whale is the second largest. The weight of this whale can reach 40-80 tons, but it is highly dependent on the chosen habitat. There are two subspecies of this animal - northern and southern types. Animals that prefer cold northern waters are more compact, rarely exceeding 24-25 meters in length, while their southern counterparts often reach 27 meters.

Fin whales are the closest relatives of the blue whale. In some cases, they even give birth to joint cubs.

bowhead whale

Third in size, the bowhead whale prefers cold northern waters. Perhaps, if he had chosen warmer ones, he would have grown even larger, but even a length of 20-22 meters cannot but arouse respect. Interestingly, the males of the bowhead whale are somewhat smaller than their beautiful halves, which grow up to 18 meters. But such injustice is characteristic of all species of cetaceans.

By the way, this large whale boasts not only size, but also life expectancy. Research in this area has not been conducted for too long, but already known representatives of the species, whose age has exceeded the century limit. There are even references to a male aged 211 years. True, it was determined by an insufficiently accurate method, even if the error is 20-30%, this whale remains one of the centenarians.

The only representative of the sperm whale family today, the sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales. With the right combination of circumstances, males can grow up to 20 meters in length and gain 50 tons, although on average they are somewhat smaller. Interestingly, unlike whales, sperm whales have more fragile and miniature ladies. But it’s hard to call them inches: 13 meters is an impressive size.

Not as graceful as the blue whale, but not in the least affected by it.

Interestingly, the sperm whale is the only member of the cetacean order that can swallow a person whole. But it is also difficult to find such live-eaters in other detachments. Several such cases have been recorded. In one of them (highly controversial and refuted), the victim even survived.

Such giants cannot but inspire respect, but they remain in the minority even in their own family. And the smallest whale in comparison with them looks like a real dwarf. For example, a dwarf whale rarely grows longer than 4-5 meters, and a baby sperm whale is even smaller - 2.4-3 meters in length, weighing up to 250-300 kilograms. Here is such a mini-kit.

We hope that now you know which whale is the largest and which is the smallest. This will help you better understand who exactly should give the crown.

The blue whale is the most big whale, the largest modern animal, and also probably the largest of all animals that have ever lived on Earth. Its length reaches 33 meters, and its weight can significantly exceed 150 tons. It can eat up to 40 million small crustaceans per day.

Let's find out more about it...

This is truly a huge animal, just a giant. Previously, its range was from the Antarctic to the Arctic. Whaling nearly wiped out the blue whale. Today it is listed in the International Red Book and the Red Book of Russia.

Once upon a time, blue whales plied all the oceans of the world; and it is estimated that there were up to 250,000 of these creatures in Antarctica alone. However, in recent years ruthless fishing has left less than 1% of the above figure. It is very difficult to determine the total number of these huge animals, so the size of the Antarctic blue whale population, according to modern estimates, ranges from a few hundred to 11,000. But whatever the exact figure, it in any case seems dangerously low compared to the number that existed before.

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However, the largest whale in the world has not only huge body sizes. He just has incredibly large internal organs. And only one language weighs so much that it is hard to imagine: 4 thousand kilograms. Well, the heart of a blue whale weighs about 700 kilograms. However, such an impressive size for the ocean is not uncommon. Few people know that back in 1870, the largest jellyfish was found near the coast of North America. Medusa Tsyanei in length was more than 35 meters. To better visualize its size, you can compare it with the height of a 9-story building.

When a small whale is born (or more precisely, on the water), it already weighs about three tons. The length of the cub is comparable to a small tree - 6-7 meters. For a person, these are already unimaginable dimensions, it is difficult to imagine a living creature of such dimensions. Every year the whales only grow, moreover, a small whale is pulled out at a high speed. At the same time, whales, according to various sources, can live up to a hundred years. However, despite the active growth and life expectancy, whales produce offspring very slowly. Females of the largest whale in the world reach puberty only by the age of ten, and they give birth no more than once every two years. Mammals, unlike humans, carry a fetus for about 12 months. Despite such circumstances, now powerful and noble mammals are being destroyed mercilessly.

Photo 2.

And they do it at such a speed that blue whales do not even have time to reach their maternal age, that is, they die in childhood. The largest whales are now not so abundant in the oceans, their population is decreasing exponentially. They are now on the verge of extinction. In Japan, for example, fishing is so active that there are practically no whales left there. Initially, the number of blue whales (this was before the start of intensive fishing) was estimated at 215 thousand individuals. But it is rather difficult to calculate the current livestock. And the reason is quite simple. For many decades, these mammals have not been studied very actively. According to the data for 1984, no more than 1900 whales live in the Northern Hemisphere, and more in the Southern Hemisphere - about 10 thousand heads. True, half of them are dwarf subspecies. Now, according to some reports, there are no more than 2 thousand blue whales in the entire world ocean. True, according to other experts, the figures are more optimistic - at least 8 thousand individuals.

Photo 3.

However, blue whales can die not only from human hands. A mammal can also become a victim of its marine neighbors. You might think that adult whales, due to their gigantic size, have no natural enemies. However, they can still fall under the disfavor of killer whales. The latter gather in flocks, tear apart blue whales and eat them. And cases of attacks have already been registered. So, in 1979, a flock of 30 killer whales attacked a young blue whale.

Killer whales rushed at their prey, tore off pieces from it. Moreover, the attackers did not even make out where to bite - in the head, sides or back. And in 1990, two large whales were described that were seen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They had scars in the form of parallel stripes, judging by them, teeth marks of killer whales were left on mammals.

Photo 4.

The color of the blue whale, surprisingly, is not blue, but mostly gray, but with a blue tint. And they called the blue mammal because when you look at a whale through the water, it seems to be blue, well, or blue. At the same time, the fins and belly of the animal are lighter than the rest of the body. Blue whales live in both warm and cold waters. These are polar and tropical seas. Creatures do not have teeth, but despite this, they feed on all small marine life, for example, plankton or small fish. For food, the largest whale in the world has a "whalebone". This is a device that looks more like a brush or a huge sieve. It is able to pass through itself elements unnecessary for nutrition, and in addition, filter water. A blue whale cannot eat a person, even if he really wants to. Therefore, the mammal is considered almost safe for humans. However, an inhabitant of the seas and oceans can easily turn over a medium-sized water vessel, and not on purpose, but simply by accidentally hitting it.

Photo 5.

There is a theory that whales entered the water from land. As proof of this - the structural features of the skeleton of a mammal, which does not really resemble a fish. The blue whale even has finger brushes on its fins. Moreover, the blue whale does not lay eggs or spawn, it produces already living organisms.

It is worth noting that whales have a very poor sense of smell and vision. Therefore, the largest whale in the world communicates with its fellow tribesmen exclusively with the help of sounds. And in order for other mammals to hear the cry, the whale has to invest up to 20 hertz in the message. And this is enough to transmit information over a great distance - individuals are able to hear each other at a distance of up to 800 kilometers and even more. However, if the whale overdoes it and shouts with more or less force, then the brethren will not hear it. Yes, and whales are not capable of understanding someone. For the most part, these mammals are loners. The blue whale, as a rule, does not form herds. But sometimes mammals still gather in groups, but they are not numerous, only 2-3 heads. Only where there is a lot of food, you can find large accumulations. However, even in such groups, blue whales keep apart from each other.

Photo 6.

The mammal is not as agile as other large cetaceans. Whale movements are slow and clumsy. And they are active only in the daytime, this is evidenced by the fact that, for example, off the coast of California, individuals stop their movements at night. In general, the life of blue whales at night is still little studied.

Photo 7.

Blue whales swim in groups of 2 or 3, and sometimes alone. He tries not to swim to the shore. Several groups may gather in places of accumulation of plankton. The speed of the blue whale is 9-13 km / h. If the whale is frightened or runs away, then it develops a speed of 25 km / h, and releases small fountains every 30 seconds.

The blue whale dives for 10-12 minutes, if the condition is calm. After a long and deep immersion, it first appears on the surface of the blowhole, on the top of the head. The small dorsal fin is visible when the front of the whale is already underwater. After the fountain, the whale arches its back. Blue whale, the caudal fin usually does not show, but strongly exposes the caudal peduncle in a semicircle

Photo 8.

The blue whale has an elongated, slender bluish-gray, flat on the side, body with gray spots of various sizes and shapes. The back and sides of a light color, lighter than the general tone. And the head and jaw are dark in color. The head has the shape of an angle of 45 °, wide from above. The pectoral fins are narrow, pointed and long. The caudal fin is wide, with pointed edges. The blue whale has about 60 submandibular throat folds.

Whales are extremely hardy. It can be in motion for many days without a single stop. But despite the strength they need constant human help to survive.

Photo 9.

During the day, the blue whale eats about 1 ton of krill (that's about 1 million calories), which basically feeds on it. The whale ingests krill, along with thousands of liters of water, swimming through its accumulations, and then filters it by pushing all this mass with its tongue through the whalebone. By the way, the tongue of a blue whale weighs more than an elephant, and the thickness is more than 3 meters.

female pregnancy blue whale lasts 11 months. Offspring are brought once every three years. One whale weighing up to 3 tons and up to 7 meters long is born in the water. It feeds on fatty (42%) and thick mother's milk for about seven months. The kitten receives a portion of milk by contraction of the mother's muscles. In one day, the cub drinks over 600 liters of milk. The baby is growing literally by leaps and bounds. During the day, she gains weight up to 100 kg, and the length of the kitten increases by 4 cm. Wow, baby! A loving mother is always there, touchingly takes care of her child. When the plates of the whalebone are fully developed, the grown whale itself is able to swallow food. This usually happens at the age of seven months.

Photo 10.

Blue whales are almost completely blind and devoid of smell, so the only way they use to study the world around them is echolocation using sounds. Whales spend a huge amount of time analyzing sound signals from outside, which is facilitated by the structure of the animal's skull. In front of the head of the animal is a sound-reproducing system, which serves as a lens that reproduces and captures sounds. The famous songs of blue whales, reaching 188 decibels, are most often associated with the breeding season. Males usually “sing”, but sometimes females also “sing” to their children (you can listen to the songs of blue whales below). With the help of echolocation, individuals can communicate with each other, even at a distance of up to 1600 km from each other.

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The average weight of the largest mammal in the world, the whale, is 150 tons. The sea giant has no rivals in its weight category, both in water and on land, however, on land, the whale would have little chance of surviving, having got to the surface, it will simply die under the weight of its own weight.

The average weight of the largest mammal in the world, the whale, is 150 tons.

The name whale comes from the Greek κῆτος, which means "sea monster". Whales include all cetaceans, with the exception of dolphins and porpoises. Blue and gray giants confidently surf the oceans and seas, just like their ancestors many millions of years ago. Of the 165 suborders of whales that have ever existed on the planet, today there are 38 subspecies:

• archeocetes (ancient whales);
• mystacocetes (baleen whales);
• odonocetes (toothed whales).

Baleen and toothed whales have significant differences, both in anatomical structure and in lifestyle. In baleen whales, instead of teeth, in the oral cavity there is a series of horny plates, which are called whalebone. Through these plates, the mammal filters sea water, which contains plankton (small crustaceans and algae). This biological mass is the main diet of the whale.

Interestingly, even if the whale did not have such "teeth", it would not be able to swallow larger food, even by accident - the passage into the throat has a small diameter and is not intended for large prey.

Toothed whales are sea hunters. Their prey are octopuses, fish and some species of mammals that live in the ocean depths.

Among cetaceans there are champions. To establish their weight, you just need a giant scale.

How much does the world's largest whale weigh?

The blue whale is the heaviest in its class and could win a gold medal if a competition for the heaviest creature on the planet was invented. The weight of the blue whale is about 200 tons, the growth of the giant is about 34 meters.

Miracle fish would break all records not only in total weight, but also in weight internal organs. The huge and noble heart of a whale weighs about 700 kg, which is equal to the weight of 2500 human hearts. Whale tongue can "grow" up to 4 tons. That is, if we weigh mammals, then 14 medium cows can be placed on one scale, and only the tongue of one blue whale will be on the second!

It is interesting!

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Due to the fact that the whale is not a predator and its diet includes crustaceans, small fish and algae, the whale has to constantly filter water through the whalebone in order to saturate its body. This laborious process is bearing fruit - the height and weight of the blue whale are impressive. Against the background of the giant, his fellow predator, the killer whale, which hunts seals and other marine mammals, weighs "only" nine tons, with a ten-meter height.

Blue, the whale is called not quite correctly. The color of the mammal is closer to gray and has a slightly bluish tint. Blue, the whale seems when you look at it through the water column. The belly and fins have a lighter color and differ from the main color of the skin. Therefore, when talking about blue whales and blue whales, we are talking about the same mammal, so the weight of a blue whale is equal to the weight of a blue whale.

The life span of mammals is about a hundred years. Whales “grow up” slowly, the female whale brings the first offspring at the age of ten, the gestation of the cub lasts about a year. Babies appear no more than once every two years. It is difficult to call a newborn whale a baby - its weight is about three tons. In human terms, this is the weight of a thousand newborn babies. A newborn kitten will not be capricious and complain, for one feeding he drinks about a hundred liters of milk, and therefore the baby grows by leaps and bounds.

The habitat of a heavyweight can be both warm tropical waters and rather cold waters of the polar seas.

How much does a white whale weigh?

There is a theory that whales once lived on land, and moved to the water after the appearance of some unfavorable conditions for life. Certain facts serve as arguments in favor of such an assumption:

• whales have a special skeletal structure, different in shape from the skeleton of fish;
• mammals do not breathe with gills, like all fish;
• baby whales are born fully formed and feed on mother's milk.

The name of whales depends on the color of their skin. The white whale or beluga whale is much smaller than its large counterparts, blue whales, its weight is about two tons, they grow up to six meters. We can say that the weight of an adult beluga whale is equal to the weight of a newborn blue whale.

The color of the skin of a white whale from birth is almost blue, by one year it darkens and turns gray, and only by the age of five does the beluga whale acquire a marble-white hue.

The appearance of a white whale also has its own characteristics: the head of a mammal is quite convex, and the front fins are short.

The white whale feeds on schooling fish, crustaceans and mollusks. Lives for about forty years. Killer whales, hunting whales and polar bears pose a danger to him, when the beluga whale is trapped among the ice, she has to surface every two minutes to get some air, she becomes their easy prey.

How much does a humpback whale weigh?

Another representative of the cetacean suborder, the humpback whale, got its name because of the fin on its back, which resembles a hump in shape, or because it arches its back when swimming.

The largest individuals of humpback whales reach a length of 17-18 meters, but they are not common. The usual sizes of mammals:

• the length of male humpback whales is 13.5 - 14 meters;
• the length of the female humpback whale is about 13 meters.

The average weight of an animal is about 30 tons. Humpback whales also differ in that they have a significant layer of subcutaneous fat. The fat reserve serves as a nutritional reserve during the wintering period. The color of mammals is different, therefore, to identify the animal, attention is paid to the color of the lower surface of the caudal fin, which the whale puts out of the water during deep vertical diving.

Humpback whales are interesting because they can sing, and the performance can be both solo and choral.

This ability of mammals is inherent only in whales and humans. Males are endowed with vocal abilities, the performance of one composition can take from 6 to 35 minutes. The sound range of performers ranges from 40 to 5000 Hz.

Sea giants differ from other mammals not only appearance but also habits. Whales can go without sleep for a hundred days, throughout their lives they constantly “listen”, since their eyesight and sense of smell are rather poorly developed. Marine life has its own identifier - the tail fin, each whale has a special pattern. Mammals are able to starve, if there is not enough food, then the whale can limit itself to food for up to a hundred days. Such a diet has little effect on the weight of the animal, the weight of the whale does not decrease to critical levels due to the presence of a thick fat layer. The average weight of an animal remains stable as the mammal reaches adulthood. Every year, the population of blue giants is rapidly declining, the fault is a man who uncontrollably exterminates animals, so the future of these majestic and unusual animals is solely in the hands of people.

The blue whale (blue whale, or blue whale) is the largest animal on the planet. Since the blue whale breathes with lungs and feeds its children with milk, it is a mammal, not a fish. There are only three species - pygmy, northern and southern blue whales, which differ slightly from each other.

Blue whale anatomy

The blue whale, like all mammals, breathes exclusively with lungs. Of the senses, blue whales have very developed hearing and touch. The blue whale, which is the largest living creature on planet Earth, has the same striking dimensions of internal organs - for example, one tongue of an adult can weigh more than 4 tons! The pulse of whales is very low - 5-10 beats per minute, and the heart weighs a whole ton! This is an absolute record among all living beings. In length, the whale can reach up to 33 meters, and the weight of an adult is approximately 150 tons! In blue whales, females are larger than males.

Style: Blue whale

Genus: Stripes

Family: Striped

Class: Mammals

Order: Cetaceans

Type: Chordates

Kingdom: Animals

Domain: Eukaryotes

Blue whales have a very large head and a long, slender body. On the back of the head is a blowhole, which is formed by the two nostrils of the animal. On the lower part of the head of the blue whale there are stripes that form from the folds of the skin. They help the whale stretch its pharynx when it opens its mouth to take in food. At this point, the whale's mouth can stretch 1.5 times! In total, blue whales can have from 55 to 90 such folds.

Where does the blue whale live?

The blue whale is cosmopolitan. This means that its habitat extends to the entire world ocean, but somewhere, due to cold currents, the whale cannot be all year round and migrates, and somewhere it is quite comfortable all the time - for example, in the Indian Ocean. Most often they are seen in Ceylon. A large number of people are sure that there is no better place to watch blue whales than in Sri Lanka.

What does the blue whale eat?

The blue whale's favorite food is krill (large aggregations of crustaceans) and plankton. The whale does not eat fish at all, even if it accidentally absorbs it, it is exclusively along with a large amount of plankton and krill. He eats simply by opening his huge mouth and swimming forward, collecting water with food, and then the water flows out through the whalebone.

Blue whale lifestyle

Unlike other whale species, the blue whale can be called a loner. Sometimes some individuals form small groups, but usually they stay alone. The blue whale prefers to lead a daytime lifestyle - this is evidenced by numerous studies.

Blue whale breeding

Reproduction is a sore subject for the blue whale. It reproduces extremely slowly, so slowly that some scientists tend to think that the increase in the birth rate of blue whales is not able to cover their mortality. The growth of blue whales is the slowest of all whales. The blue whale is monogamous. The male, having found his female, protects her and never moves away from her. The female can become pregnant once every two years, after which she bears a cub for another year.

The cub is born weighing about 2 - 3 tons and 6-9 meters long. It feeds on mother's milk for about 7 months. Sexual maturity is reached at about 10 years of age. At the age of 15, the blue whale is already fully formed physically and is gaining its weight and body length. Whales live for quite a long time - about 90 years.

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