Tell about Blue Whale ?

The largest of animals has the heaviest of tongue and weighs around 2.7 tonnes, which is around the same weight as an African forest elephant, though largest of these elephants are known to gain as much as 6 tonnes. Though there are claims that a blue whale’s heart being as big as a car, so far they could not be verified considering the difficulty in obtaining a proper specimen that was intact.

Blue whales can reach speeds of 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph) over short bursts, usually when interacting with other whales, but 20 kilometres per hour (12 mph) is a more typical traveling speed

Blue whales occasionally swim in small groups but usually swim alone or in pairs. They are thought to form close attachments.
Though we can’t hear them, blue whales are one of the loudest animals on the planet, communicating with each other using a series of low frequency pulses, groans, and moans. It is thought that in good conditions blue whales can hear each other across distances of up to 1,600km.

These awesome aquatic animals follow a seasonal migration pattern. During the feeding season, they fill up on krill in cold polar waters. They then travel to warmer, tropical waters to mate and give birth.

The one time researchers could find a 76.5 feet blue whale that died after getting trapped in ice in Canada, the heart they cut out was the size of a golf cart.

With an area of around 350 square miles (about the size of New York City), the Tic-Toc MPA was established in one of the most bio-diverse areas along the Chilean coast.

At birth, blue whale calves measure around 8m long and weigh a massive 4,000kg! They grow quickly, too – for seven to eight months, these bulky babies suckle on their mother’s rich, fatty milk, and gain around 90kg each day

Satellite telemetry of Australian pygmy blue whales migrating to Indonesia has shown that they cover between 0.09 and 455.8 kilometers (0.056 and 283.221 miles) per day. When feeding, they slow down to 5 kilometres per hour (3.1 mph).

For nearly 15 years, Melimoyu Foundation, WWF and others have worked to see these waters protected from the growing threats of fishing and aquaculture.

Intensive hunting in the 1900s by whalers seeking whale oil drove them to the brink of extinction. Hundreds of thousands of whales were killed.
The 1966 International Whaling Commission finally gave Blue Whales protection, although they have only recovered slightly since then.

Blue whales feed almost entirely on krill, small shrimp-like creatures, and a small number of copepods, small fish, crustaceans and squid that get into their mouth. The mouths, when fully expanded, are large enough to hold 90 tonnes of food and water.

Blue whales typically swim at a depth of about 13 meters (43 feet) when migrating in order to eliminate drag from surface waves. The deepest confirmed dive is 506 meters (1,660 feet)

Sadly, in the late 19th early 20th century, blue whales were heavily hunted. And despite a global hunting ban in 1966, their population has declined by 70-90 percent in the past 150 years. With only 10,000-25,000 left in the wild, these magnificence marine mammals are today classified as an endangered species.

During their feeding time, they open their mouths wide and lunge at the krill. Then they close their mouths and push the water out through baleen, the bristle-like structures made of keratin present on the edge of upper jaws.

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.

If the krill swarm is dense enough, an adult whale can swallow up to 500 kilograms of krill, that’s 457,000 calories, in a single mouthful. In a day, an adult whale can eat up to 40 million krill. They usually lunge only at big swarms because when they open their mouth, the water slows them down almost stopping them. So, small swarms are not worth the energy they would have to spend.

Blue whales are currently classified as endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List.
It is estimated that only 10,000-25,000 blue whales now swim the world’s oceans.

The largest populations of krill are found in the Antarctic and constitute the main food source for seals, penguins, fish, squid, as well as whales. The blue whales gorge on Antarctic krill during feeding season. As they gain more energy than they spend they build substantial energy reserves.

The female blue whales typically give birth every two or three years at the start of winter and have a gestation period of 10 to 12 months. Their calves weigh about 2.5 tonnes at birth and are 7 meters (23 feet) long. In a day they drink about 380 to 570 liters of milk, which has an energy content of 4,370 kilo calories per kilogram. The calf doubles in size in just six months by which time they are weaned.

Blue whales are difficult to weigh because of their size. They were never weighed whole, but cut into blocks 0.5–0.6 meters (1.6–2.0 ft) across and weighed by parts

This caused a considerable loss of blood and body fluids, estimated to be about 6% of the total weight.[31] As a whole, blue whales from the Northern Atlantic and Pacific are smaller on average than those from Antarctic waters. Adult weights typically range from 45–136 tonnes (50–150 short tons).

There is some uncertainty about the biggest blue whale ever found, as most data came from blue whales killed in Antarctic waters during the first half of the twentieth century, which were collected by whalers not well-versed in standard zoological measurement techniques.

The penises of blue whales vary between average lengths of 2.4 meters (7 feet 10 inches) and 3 meters (9 feet 10 inches). Considering its length, their penises are very thin with diameters between 30 to 36 centimeters (12 to 14 inches) and the circumference around 46 centimeters (18 inches)

The standard measuring technique is to measure in a straight line from the upper jaw to the notch in the tail flukes. This came about because the edges of the tail flukes were typically cut off, and the lower jaw often falls open upon death.

The penis is usually hidden inside the body and comes out during sexual intercourse. It is speculated that it is made of tough fibrous tissue and uses its elasticity rather than blood flow for erection.