Tell about Blue Whale ?

Many of the larger whales in the whaling records (especially those over 100 ft (30.5 m)) were probably measured incorrectly or even deliberately exaggerated. The heaviest weight ever reported was 173 tonnes (190 short tons); for a southern hemisphere female in 1947, it is likely that the largest blue whales would have weighed over 200 short tons (181 t).

Compared to humans or many other animals, the brain of blue whales is proportionately small. However, it still is much larger than humans, and scientists believe that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are probably a lot smarter than we give them credit for. The difference between cetaceans and primates is that, for primates the primary sense is visual and the primary means of communication is auditory, whereas in cetaceans both are auditory.

The auditory abilities of cetaceans are so advanced that they can send images and receive images through auditory communication. Since, unlike light, flesh cannot block sound, it is possible that they could use them like sonars and even be aware of the inner workings of other animals the way we use sound for medical scanning.

With such advanced ability for communication and frontal lobes so large, they also possibly have developed their own language far advanced than our own. In fact, cetaceans can give and receive 20 times more information than we can through hearing and seeing

Catching blue whales was as good as an impossible task in the past because of their size, strength and speed. Even if someone could manage to kill one, towing it to the shore had never worked out. So, instead, sperm whales and right whales were hunted until 1864 when a Norwegian named Svend Foyn equipped his steamboat with explosive harpoons.

Possibly the largest recorded male was killed near the South Shetland Islands in 1926 and was measured at 31.7 m (104 ft).

During the 1870s he perfected the harpoon by installing a grenade tip that would explode inside the whale after impaling it. The explosion would fill the whale with gas to keep it afloat, making it easier for transport.

Females are generally a few feet longer than males. However, males may be slightly heavier on average than females of the same length, owing to heavier muscles and bones.

Verified measurements rarely exceed 28 metres (92 ft). The longest measured by Macintosh and Wheeler (1929) was a female 28.5 metres (94 ft), while the largest male was 26.45 metres (86.8 ft); one of the same authors later found a male of 26.65 metres (87.4 ft) and stated that those lengths may be exceeded. The longest whale measured by scientists was 29.9 metres (98 ft) long

The invention heralded a whole century of successful whaling, hunting down the blue whales that were once abundant in nearly all oceans. Until then, the largest population was in the Antarctic, estimated between 202,000 and 311,000

Blue whales are usually found traveling alone or in pairs of mother and calf, or two adults. Even when they travel in pairs, they sometimes stay several kilometers apart and so are considered extremely shy creatures. If they do come together in groups, it is at specific times to feed.

Being solitary in nature, the blue whales have developed an exceptional communication system. Their calls are at low frequencies, below human hearing, and can travel through hundreds of miles in the sea in order to reach another far-off companion.

scientists believe that recently the distance at which they could hear the call has decreased to only 100 miles due to the din of shipping traffic and noise pollution. Until 1940, the distance used to be 1,000 miles.

Lieut. Quentin R. Walsh, USCG, while acting as whaling inspector of the factory ship Ulysses, verified the measurement of a 29.9 m (98 ft) pregnant blue whale caught in the Antarctic in the 1937–38 season.

A 26.8 metres (88 ft) male was verified by Japanese scientists in the 1947–48 whaling season. The longest reported in the North Pacific was a 27.1 metres (89 ft) female taken by Japanese whalers in 1959, and the longest reported in the North Atlantic was a 28 metres (92 ft) female caught in the Davis Strait.

The average weight of the longest scientifically verified specimens (29.9 metres (98 ft)) would be calculated to be 176.5 tonnes (194.6 tons), varying from 141 tonnes (155.4 tons) to 211.5 tonnes (233.1 tons) depending on fat condition.

One study found that a hypothetical 33 metres (108 ft) blue whale would be too large to exist in real life, due to metabolic and energy constraints.

Due to its large size, several organs of the blue whale are the largest in the animal kingdom. A blue whale's tongue weighs around 2.7 tonnes (3.0 short tons) and, when fully expanded, its mouth is large enough to hold up to 90 tonnes (99 short tons) of food and water.

Despite the size of its mouth, the dimensions of its throat are such that a blue whale cannot swallow an object wider than a beach ball. The heart of an average sized blue whale weighs 400 pounds (180 kg) and is the largest known in any animal.

During the first seven months of its life, a blue whale calf drinks approximately 380 litres (100 US gal) of milk every day. Blue whale calves gain weight quickly, as much as 90 kilograms (200 lb) every 24 hours.

Even at birth, they weigh up to 2,700 kilograms (5,950 lb)—the same as a fully grown hippopotamus. Blue whales have proportionally small brains, only about 6.92 kilograms (15.26 lb), about 0.007% of its body weight,[44] although with a highly convoluted cerebral cortex.

The blue whale penis is the largest penis of any living organism[45] and also set the Guinness World Record as the longest of any animal's. The reported average length varies but is usually mentioned to have an average length of 2.4 to 3.0 m (8 to 10 ft).