The Blue Whale

The body of the blue whale is long. The head makes up only 1/4 of it's total body length. It makes deep and rumbling sounds that can be felt and heard. The sounds travel for long distances through water. This is how the whales communicate with each other throughout the ocean. The whale is blue-grey in color. While in the Antarctic, North Pacific, and North Atlantic, the bue whale acquires microoranisms called diatoms. This gives the underside of its body a yellowish-green caste. Early whalers call it sulfur bottom.

The top fin is small and triangular. It is located ¾ way in back of the body. It measures 1 foot. The longest blue whale ever recorded was an adult female during whaling season at 108 feet. Nowadays blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere reaches lengths of 90-100 feet. The Northern Hemisphere whales are smaller. The average ranges are 75 to 80 feet. Blue whales can weight as much as 100 tons. Females tend to be larger than the males of the same age group. The whales feed on small shrimp-like creatures called enphauslids or krill. During summer feeding season, the blue whale gorges itself eating 4 tons of food each day.

The whale reaches it s maturity around ages 6 to 10 years or when the males reach about 74 feet and females 79 feet. Their calves are born at intervals of 2 to 3 years. Gestation is about 12 months. Their calves are 23 to 27 feet long at birth weighing 3 tons. They nurse for 7 to 8 months and are weaned at 52 feet. They will be about 23 tons. While nursing , they gain 200 pounds a day and consume 100 gallons of the mother's milk. Blue whales are commonly found in pairs. You can sometimes find them in large groups. They are fast and can reach 30 mph when alarmed.

Blue whales were safe from the early whaler who didn't know how to contain them. But in the 1868 era, a Norwegian by the name of Sven Foyn found a way to catch them with an exploding harpoon gun. He also figured out how to fill the whales with air so they would not sink after being shot by the guns. One 90 foot whale would bring up to 120 barrels of oil.

Over 29,000 were killed in one season back in 1931. In 1966, hunting blue whales was banned by International Whaling Commission (IWC). Before whaling began there was an estimated 350,000 blue whales. Now, there are probably around 5-10,000 in the Southern Hemisphere and 3-4000 in the Northern Hemisphere.

source:acsonline.org