![]() ![]() How Long Do Blue Whales Dive?īlue whales come up for air at least every two minutes. Behavior What Do Blue Whales Eat?īlue whales munch 4-8 tons of plankton, krill and small fish every day. The heart of an adult blue whale is as big as a golf cart. At its birth, a blue whale baby weighs about two tons, just like two small cars. Its tongue alone weighs as much as a young elephant (think of this when you visit the elephants in the zoo next time!). Therefore we offer you a few comparisons: The weight of one blue whale equals that of four large brontosauruses, 23 elephants, 230 cows or 1,800 humans. It is always difficult to get an idea of big dimensions. ![]() Size and Weight Size and Weight Comparison Yet, the longest animal is the slim giant ribbon worm. The blue whale is the largest and heaviest of all animals living on shore, in the air and in the water. During these dives, the whale glides downward and then lunges vigorously upward about 30 m (100 feet), from once to several times during a dive, sometimes lunging all the way to the surface with their jaws breaking the water.Main Characteristics The Blue Whale is The Largest and Heaviest Animal They are known to eat red crabs and small schooling fish such as anchovies, but these make up a small part of their diet. Krill primarily makes up the diet of blue whales, but they will also eat copepods, amphipods, and squid. They are likely to occur within 270 km (230 miles) of the continental shelf where they can easily find high concentrations of their preferred prey, especially near upwelling areas and around islands and seamounts. Off California, sightings are made seasonally from June to December in the Southern California Bight and from May to November in northern and central California.īlue whales are seen from depths of 80 to 370 m (270 - 1200 feet), but mostly are found in upwelling regions like those off northern and central California and the southern Channel Islands. As they head north, they travel far offshore, but as they migrate south, they stick closer to the central California coast. It is known that blue whales migrate south in winter to subtropical waters and then to temperate waters in summer and fall, but the migratory paths are not well known due to the nomadic movements of individuals. The flippers may be mottled gray, lined with white above and mottled gray or white below.Įastern Pacific blue whales can be found from the Chukchi and Bearing seas in Alaska during the summer to Panama in Central America during the winter. Blue whales are a shade of blue-gray, mostly with light or dark spots, and the paler undersides of the head may be stained a yellowish color from algae. Its flukes are deeply keeled, triangular, broad, and notched. However, the dorsal fin, which is variable in shape ranging from hooked and prominent to a small hump, is far aft and short for its body size, reaching less than 33 cm (1 foot) tall. Their flippers are pointed and long, up to 4 m (13 feet). The top of their head is wide and flat, almost U-shaped, and 50-90 grooves run down the outer wall of the mouth and throat to allow the throat to distend outward when feeding. They are long and slender with their head making up a quarter of the body length.
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