Blue whale- the largest representative of the cetacean order and the entire class of mammals.

Blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus , blue whale, blue whale) is a marine animal from the order Cetacea, belongs to the baleen whales of the genus Minke whales.

The blue whale is the largest living animal, and probably the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth.

Adult Lengthwhale (females are larger) can reach 24-33 meters, the weight of an adult whale is 100-120 tons,according to some reports, it can even exceed 150 tons!Weight of a newborn whale -2-3 tons, length – 6-8 m.

The largest recorded specimen was a female killed by whalers in 1926 near the South Shetland Islands. Its length was 33.58 meters. This whale was not weighed, but its weight apparently exceeded 150 tons.

There is also evidence that in 1947, a 190-ton blue whale was killed by whalers off South Georgia. The blue whale is known and weighs 181 tons.

Blue whales 30 meters long have been seen several times - in 1922, such a whale swam into the Panama Canal, and in 1964, a 30-meter whale weighing 135 tons was killed off the Aleutian Islands by Soviet whalers.

However, previously determining the exact weight of blue whales was associated with significant difficulties, since whaling ships did not have equipment capable of weighing such huge carcasses. Therefore, they were weighed in parts, and the weighing technique was finally developed only by 1926.

There is also an opinion that blue whales were crushed as a result of long-term predatory fishing, and back in the 18th century, when blue whales were much more numerous, specimens up to 37 meters in length could be found among them.

Blue whales, giants more than 30 meters long, are quite rare, their average size is 22.8 m for males and 23.5 m for females in the Northern Hemisphere, in the Southern Hemisphere they are usually a meter larger.

A blue whale's tongue weighs 3 tons, its liver weighs 1 ton, and its heart weighs 600-700 kg. The total amount of blood in a blue whale is up to 10 tons, the diameter of the dorsal artery is 40 cm, and the stomach can hold up to 2 tons of food. The mouth of the blue whale is a “room with a floor area” of 24 square meters. meters, and the lungs can hold up to 14 cubic meters. meters of air.

There are three subspecies of the blue whale - northern, southern and dwarf, which differ slightly in size and physique. Sometimes a fourth subspecies is recognized - the Indian blue whale. The first two subspecies gravitate to cold circumpolar waters, while the third is found mainly in tropical seas.

The lifestyle of all subspecies is almost the same. Whales live mostly alone, less often in small groups, and even in groups they swim separately. Historically, the blue whale's range covered the entire world's oceans, but is currently severely fragmented. The lifestyle of the blue whale is still not well understood.

The life expectancy of a blue whale is very long, and is comparable to the age of a person; according to various sources, a blue whale lives up to 80 and even 90 years, and the oldest known specimen was 110 years old!

However, according to some scientists, in well-studied blue whale herds (in the Gulf of St. Lawrence), the lifespan of whales is at least 40 years.

blue whale feeding mainly large planktonic invertebrates, mainly crustaceans, mainly euphausiids, in the Antarctic - black-eyes (5-6 cm long), in the northern hemisphere - smaller crustaceans. A full stomach can hold 1.5-2 tons of crustaceans.

Blue whales are pelagic animals, usually found in the open ocean and rarely come close to the shore.

A feeding whale swims slowly and remains underwater for 8-10 minutes. This is followed by 10-12 intermediate dives and shallow dives, each such dive takes 6-7 seconds, and a shallow dive takes 15-40 seconds, during which the whale manages to swim 40-50 meters under the very surface of the water. The highest dives in the series are the first (after rising from the depths) and the last (before diving into the depths).

A “grazing” blue whale moves at a speed of 11-15 km/h, and a frightened one reaches a speed of 33-40 km/h. But he can only move so quickly for a few minutes.

The blue whale is distributed from the Chukchi Sea, Greenland, Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya to Antarctica.

It is very rare in the tropical zone, wintering only in warm waters: in the Northern Hemisphere - at the latitudes of Southern Japan, Taiwan, California, Mexico, North Africa, the Caribbean Sea; in the Southern Hemisphere - at the latitudes of Australia, Peru, Ecuador, South Africa, Madagascar.

In summer, the blue whale feeds in the waters of the Antarctic, North Atlantic, Bering and Chukchi seas.

Blue whales breed every 2 years in warm waters, mainly in winter.

Pregnancy lasts about 11 months, with one litter per litter. Females feed the cub with milk for about 7 months, and during this period the cub grows up to 16 meters and increases its weight to 23 tons. During the day, the baby whale gains 80-100 kg in weight. At one and a half years old, a young whale has a length of up to 20 meters and a weight of up to 45 - 50 tons.

Sexual maturity occurs at 4-5 years, females at this time reach a length of 23 meters. A full height and they reach physical maturity at a body length of 26-27 m, at 14-15 years.

The physique of the blue whale is proportional, the body is well streamlined. The dorsal fin is small, its height is only 30 cm, it is set far back. The pectoral fins are narrow, pointed and somewhat shortened (1/7-1/8 of the body length). The width of the caudal fin with a small notch in the middle is equal to 1/4 of the body length. The head is wide on top, U-shaped, with convex edges to the side.

The body of the blue whale is dark gray, with a bluish tint, mottled with light gray spots and a marbled pattern. There are more spots in the back half of the body and on the belly than in the front and on the back. The belly may be yellow or mustard in color.

In areas of mass feeding, its skin, like that of all minke whales, becomes overgrown with a green film of diatoms, which disappears in temperate and warm waters.

Whalebone- these are horny platinum and fringe, resin-black in color. The height does not exceed 130 cm, the width is 50-60 cm, and the number of plates is from 270 to 440 in each half of the upper jaw.

The sounds produced by the blue whale are infrasounds, with a frequency below 50 Hz, mainly 8 - 20 Hz, and their intensity is rarely below 60 decibels. The “screams” of blue whales are most intense at the lowest frequencies, about 1 Hz, but such calls last no more than 18 seconds.

Infrasound signals are common for long-distance communication during migration, when whales move within several kilometers of each other.

Research by American specialists conducted off the coast of Antarctica has shown that blue whales can exchange signals at a distance of up to 33 km.

The blue whale's voice, like that of other large whales, is unusually loud, and on average, blue whale calls can have an intensity of up to 190 decibels in the infrasound range. Note that for a person in his auditory range (from 16 to 20 thousand Hz), a sound intensity of 180 decibels is already a pain threshold! The voice of a blue whale was recorded at a distance of 200 km, and there is data on hearing the cries of blue whales at a distance of 400 and even 1600 km!

Endangered whale...

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the number of blue whales began to decline rapidly due to uncontrolled fishing. Whalers were attracted by the huge size of the animal's carcass - much more fat and meat could be obtained from one whale than from any other cetacean.

By the 1960s, the blue whale was practically exterminated and was on the verge of complete extinction - in 1963, no more than 5,000 individuals remained.

Currently, despite the protective measures taken, the blue whale is still very rare - the total number does not exceed 10,000 individuals, and new protective measures are required to maintain its stable population. The main threat to whales is the anthropogenic factor, disruption of their usual way of life and sea pollution.

Blue whales' slow natural reproduction also significantly hampers their population growth.

The initial number of blue whales, before the start of intensive fishing, was estimated at 215 thousand. According to other sources, it could be even higher, up to 350 thousand.

The first bans on blue whale fishing in the Northern Hemisphere date back to 1939, but they affected only certain areas

The fishing of the blue whale was completely banned only in 1966, but the ban on fishing, however, did not immediately affect the “pygmy blue whales,” which continued to be caught in the season until 1967.

The current population of blue whales is difficult to estimate; for decades they have not been studied very actively; for example, the International Whaling Commission, since the mid-1970s, has done virtually no population counting.

In 1984, it was reported that no more than 2,000 blue whales live in the Northern Hemisphere, and about 10 thousand in the Southern Hemisphere, half of which are of the dwarf subspecies.

The growth of the blue whale population is slow, but in some places, for example, in areas near Iceland, the increase after the fishing ban reached 5% per year.

American scientists who conducted a detailed study of the cetacean population off the US Pacific coast noted that the number of blue whales in these areas tended to increase throughout the 1980s, however, there was no data on population growth in the Pacific Ocean as a whole. There is a serious danger that the blue whale is on the verge of extinction, and that the blue whale population will never be able to recover to its original numbers.

Although the International Red Book notes that at present there is no direct threat to the blue whale population, nevertheless, long (up to 4-5 km) flowing fishing nets pose a serious danger to them, in which a significant number of marine animals die mammals. True, fishermen claim that blue whales and fin whales easily overcome such nets, but one case of the death of a blue whale in nets did occur in 1995.

Five blue whales have died in the Pacific Ocean from collisions with ships, and, by a strange coincidence, 4 of these 5 cases occurred in 2007. One blue whale usually dies per year from impacts from seagoing vessels.

Among the best-studied group of whales that live in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, about 9% of the animals have scars apparently caused by collisions with ships, and some estimates put the figure as high as 25%. This is due to both the high concentration of blue whales in the area and the extremely heavy shipping traffic. Off the coast of Western Canada, about 12% of blue whales have markings on their skins from various fishing gear.

Despite the strict protection of blue whales, even in places where they are most concentrated, there are no restrictions on shipping, but only recommendations to reduce the speed of ships, which is very rarely implemented by ship captains.

A significant threat to blue whales comes from sea pollution, including oil products. Tests conducted in the mid-1990s showed that toxic chemicals (polychlorinated biphenyls) accumulate in the blubber tissue of blue whales and enter the sea. These substances, which accumulate in the body of pregnant females, are transmitted to the cubs in the womb. Due to the small number of individual herds and inbreeding, negative role in declining populations, blue whales may also have genetic defects and degeneration.

The number of blue whales, according to research by Swiss scientists, is also associated with disruptions in their migration routes. The background noise of the sea has increased so much over the past few decades that voice signals are often drowned out, the noise produced by ships, as a rule, has the same frequency as the voices of whales, so it becomes increasingly difficult for whales to navigate this chaos of sounds, to look for relatives, which, in turn, makes it difficult to find a partner for reproduction.

Particular damage is caused, according to American researchers, by the low- and mid-frequency sonar systems of SURTASS, warships of the US Navy.

A.A. Kazdym

List of used literature

Tomilin A.G. Animals of the USSR and adjacent countries. T. 9 (Cetaceans). M., 1957

Tomilin A.G. Cetacean fauna of the seas of the USSR. M., 1962.

Yablokov A.V., Belkovich V.M., Borisov V.I. Whales and dolphins. M., 1972.

Blue whale. Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

Animal life // Ed. S. P. Naumov and A. P. Kuzyakin. M.: Education, 1971.

Calambokidis J., Steiger G. Blue Whales. Voyageur Press, 1998.

Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, 2002

Estes J. Whales, Whaling, and Ocean Ecosystems. University of California, 2006

Mead, James G., Brownell, Robert L. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005

William C. Cummings, Paul O. Thompson. Acoustical Society of America. 1971

Gambell R. The blue whale. Biologist, 1979

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Our world is truly amazing. It is full of creatures big and small, low and tall. Today we offer you an extremely interesting selection. It contains photographs of fifteen of the largest animals in the world, divided into various categories such as mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, etc. Some of these animals are real giants!

1. The largest animal in the world is the blue (or blue) whale.
The blue whale, also called the blue whale or vomit whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal that belongs to the order Cetaceans in the suborder Mysticetes. Reaching 30 meters (98 feet) in length and weighing 180 metric tons or more, it is the largest animal known to have ever lived on our planet. A blue whale's tongue can weigh about 2.7 tons (5,952 pounds), which is approximately the same weight as an average-sized Asian elephant. The blue whale's heart weighs about 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) and is the largest such organ of any living creature. Not only is the heart of a blue whale the size of a small car, but it also weighs about the same as said car. And the volume of a blue whale’s lungs exceeds 3 thousand liters.

2. The blue whale is thought to feed almost exclusively on small shrimp-like creatures known as krill.

3. The diet of the blue whale is based on plankton. Thanks to its filtering apparatus, which is composed of baleen plates, the blue whale can consume a whopping 3.6 metric tons (7,900 pounds) or more daily during the summer months.

4. This means that it can eat up to 40 million krill per day, while the daily caloric requirement of an adult blue whale is in the region of 1.5 million. kcal

6. The largest land animal in the world: African elephant. The African elephant is the largest land animal. Male African elephants reach 6 to 7.5 meters (19.7 to 24.6 ft) in length, 3.3 m (10.8 ft) high at the withers, and can weigh up to 6 tons (13,000 lb). Female African elephants are much smaller, measuring on average 5.4 to 6.9 m (17.7 to 22.6 ft) long, 2.7 meters (8.9 ft) high at the withers, and weighing up to reach 3 tons (6600 lb). Adult African elephants generally have no enemies in their natural habitat due to their extremely large size, but baby elephants (especially newborns) are one of the favorite prey species for bloodthirsty attacks by lions or crocodiles, and are also often attacked by leopards or hyenas. According to recent data, the population of African elephants in the wild ranges from 500 to 600 thousand individuals.

7. Tallest land animal in the world: giraffe.

The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African mammal from the order of artiodactyls of the giraffidae family. It is the tallest land animal in the world. its height averages 5-6 meters (16-20 ft). Male giraffes have an average weight of 1,600 kilograms (3,500 lb), while females can weigh around 830 kilograms (1,800 lb). A distinctive characteristic of the giraffe is its very long neck, which can reach over 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) in length. In fact, the neck accounts for almost half of the animal’s vertical height. The long neck is the result of a disproportionate lengthening of the cervical vertebrae, and not an increase in the number of vertebrae, of which the giraffe, like almost all other mammals, has only seven

8. The largest predator in the world: Southern elephant seal.
The southern elephant seal is the largest carnivore on our planet. The size of the southern elephant seal is evidence of extreme sexual dimorphism, the most significant of any mammal, as male southern elephant seals are typically five to six times heavier than females. While females on average can weigh 400 to 900 kilograms (880 to 2,000 lb) and be 2.6 to 3 meters (8.5 to 9.8 ft) in length, male southern elephant seals weigh on average approximately 2,200 to 4,000 kg (4,900 to 8,800 lb) and can reach 4.5 to 5.8 meters (15 to 19 ft) in length. The all-time record holder of the southern elephant seal, shot at Possession Bay, South Georgia, on February 28, 1913, measured 6.85 meters (22.5 ft) in length and was estimated to weigh approximately 5,000 kilograms (11,000 lb).
Southern marines can dive repeatedly when hunting, remaining underwater for more than twenty minutes each time, stalking their prey, squid and fish, to depths of 400 to 1,000 meters (1,300 to 3,300 ft). The documented record for staying underwater for a juvenile elephant seal was approximately two hours. The maximum depth to which southern elephant seals can dive is more than 1,400 meters (4,600 ft).

9. Largest land predator in the world: Polar bear and Kodiak bear.

The world's largest land-based predators are the white polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Kodiak brown bear (Ursus ARCTOS). If everything is more or less clear with the white polar bear, then the Kodiak bear is less known.

10. Kodiak is a subspecies of brown bear that is found on Kodiak Island and other islands of the Kodiak archipelago off the southern coast of Alaska. Since the polar bear and the Kodiak brown bear have approximately the same body size, it is not clear which of them actually ranks first in size. In both species, the height at the withers is over 1.6 meters (5.2 ft), and the total body length can reach 3.05 m (10.0 ft). The absolute weight records for polar and brown bears were 1,003 kg (2,210 lb) and 1,135 kg (2,500 lb) respectively.

11. The largest reptile in the world: Saltwater (combed or spongy) crocodile.
The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is the largest reptile currently existing in the world. The habitat of saltwater crocodiles ranges from Northern Australia to Southeast Asia and the east coast of India. An adult male saltwater crocodile can weigh between 409 and 1,000 kilograms (900-2,200 lb) and is typically between 4.1 and 5.5 meters (13-18 ft) in length. However, males can exceed 6 meters (20 ft) in length and sometimes reach weights of over 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The saltwater saltwater crocodile is the only crocodile species that regularly reaches lengths of 4.8 m (16 ft) and even exceeds this mark. The saltwater crocodile is an active predator that feeds primarily on insects, molluscs, amphibians, crustaceans, small reptiles and fish. However, it attacks almost any animal that is on its territory, either in the water or on land. The crocodile always drags the victim it watches on land into the water, where it is more difficult for it to resist it.

12. The largest amphibian in the world: the Chinese giant salamander.
The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is the largest salamander in the world. Individual specimens of the Chinese giant salamander can reach a length of 180 centimeters (6 feet), although giants like these are now extremely rare. This species is endemic to mountain rivers and lakes in China. One of the conditions necessary for the survival of the Chinese giant salamander is clean and very cold water.

13. Today this species is considered endangered due to habitat destruction, pollution environment and targeted destruction, since the meat of the giant amphibian is considered a delicacy and is used in traditional Chinese medicine.

14. Largest rabbit/hare in the world: "Belgian Flanders". The Belgian Flanders is an ancient breed of domesticated rabbit that originates from the Flemish region.

15. They were first bred in the sixteenth century in the vicinity of Ghent, Belgium. Belgian Flanders rabbits can weigh up to 12.7 kilograms (28 pounds).

16. Largest bat in the world: giant golden flying fox. Pictured: a giant golden flying fox. Spectacled flying fox.

The largest of all bat species is the giant golden flying fox (Acerodon jubatus), an endangered species of bat from the rainforests of the Philippines that is part of the fruit bat family. The main diet of giant golden flying foxes is fruit. Giant golden flying foxes can have a maximum weight of 1.5 kg (3.3 lb), they can reach 55 centimeters (22 in) in length, and their wingspan can be almost 1.8 meters (5.9 ft). The giant flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) is inferior to the golden flying fox in body weight and length, but is ahead of it in wingspan. Scientists recorded individuals with wingspans ranging from 1.83 meters (6.0 ft) to 2 meters (6.6 ft).

17. The largest rodent in the world: capybara.
The largest existing rodent is the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), a species that is found along the shores of various bodies of water in the tropical and temperate parts of Central and South America, east of the Andes - from Panama to Uruguay to northeastern Argentina. One of the main conditions for the existence of a capybara is the presence of a nearby body of water.

18. The largest capybaras can reach 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) in length and 0.9 meters (3.0 ft) in height at the withers. They can weigh up to 105.4 kg (232 lb). This is a very active species. Capybaras are social animals that live in groups of up to hundreds of individuals, but the usual size of one colony is on average 10-20 individuals.

19. Largest bony fish in the world: common sunfish (sunfish, headfish).

Osteichthyes, also called "bony fish", are a taxonomic group of fish that have bony rather than cartilaginous skeletons. The vast majority of fish belong to the species Osteichthyes. This is an extremely diverse and numerous group, consisting of more than 29,000 species. This is the largest class of vertebrates currently existing.

20. The largest representative of bony fishes is the widespread common sunfish (sunfish, headfish) or Mola Mola. It has an extremely strange body shape - it is laterally compressed, very high and short, which gives the fish an outlandish appearance and a disc-like shape. In fact, it does not have a body as such - the sunfish is literally a “head and tail”. Mature Common Headfish have an average length of 1.8 meters (5.9 feet), a fin-to-fin width of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), and an average weight of 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds). However, scientists have recorded individuals that can be up to 3.3 meters (10.8 feet) long and 4.2 meters (14 feet) across. These giants can weigh up to 2,300 kilograms (5,100 pounds).

21. Largest lizard/snake in the world: giant green anaconda.

The giant anaconda, sometimes also called the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus), is a species of snake in the subfamily Boa constrictors. It lives in the tropical part of South America east of the Andes, Paraguay, Northern Bolivia, and French Guiana. The maximum recorded body length is 7.5 meters (25 feet), and the maximum recorded weight reaches 250 kilograms (550 pounds), although there are rumors of green anacondas being much larger. The reticulated python (Python reticulatus) of Southeast Asia is larger in body length but slimmer, and members of this species are reported to reach a maximum length of 9.7 meters (32 ft).

22. The world's largest bird: ostrich.

The ostrich, the largest bird on our planet (Struthio Camelus), is found on the plains of Africa and Arabia. The scientific name of ostrich comes from Greek and means “camel sparrow.” A large male ostrich can reach a height of 2.8 meters (9.2 feet), and weigh more than 156 kilograms (345 pounds). Ostrich eggs can weigh up to 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds) and are the largest bird eggs in the world today. Ostriches can run at a top speed of up to 97.5 km/h (60.6 mph), making the ostrich the fastest bird on earth and the fastest bipedal creature in the world.

The Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is a member of the pelican family. The Dalmatian Pelican's habitat covers a large area from South-Eastern Europe to India and China. Dalmatian pelicans live in swamps and shallow lakes. It is the largest of the pelicans, and on average members of this species can reach 160-180 centimeters (63-70 inches) in length, and weigh 11-15 kilograms (24-33 pounds). The Dalmatian Pelican has a wingspan of just over 3 meters (10 feet). With an average weight of 11.5 kilograms (25 lb), the Dalmatian Pelican is the heaviest flying bird. Although a large male bustard or swan can exceed a pelican in maximum weight.

24. Largest arthropod in the world: Japanese spider crab.

The Japanese spider crab is a species of sea crab that lives in the waters off the coast of Japan. It has a leg span of 3.8 meters (12 feet) and can weigh up to 41 pounds (19 kilograms).

26. In its natural habitat, the Japanese spider crab feeds on shellfish and animal carcasses and can live up to 100 years.

Whales are the largest living animals. According to some experts, the largest whales are generally the largest living creatures that have ever inhabited our planet. The largest whale in the world belongs to the blue whale species of the minke whale genus. The first scientific description of this giant was made by the Scottish naturalist Robert Sibbald at the end of the 17th century, and the whale received its modern Latin name Balaenoptera musculus in 1758 with light hand the famous Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus.

Lifestyle

The species of marine mammals, called the “blue whale” (in English - Blue Whale), consists of four subspecies:

• southern,
• northern,
• dwarf,
• Indian.

The largest of them are two subspecies that live mainly in northern and southern circumpolar (that is, around the poles) waters. Having a well-developed filtering apparatus consisting of large quantity horny plates, the blue whale feeds on plankton, small fish and cephalopods. That is, those whom he can swallow whole. Tearing prey into pieces is not for him.

The blue whale is capable of deep diving. There are cases when, harpooned, he dived in fear to a depth of half a kilometer or even more. When rescued from whalers, it can reach speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour, albeit for a short time. And the average swimming speed is:

• 2-6 kilometers per hour – when feeding;
• 33 kilometers per hour – during migrations;
• 37 kilometers per hour - in case of danger (can withstand this speed for quite a long time).

Female whales give birth approximately once every two years, and gestation lasts (according to various estimates) from 10 to 12 months. Usually one baby is born, but out of 100 births there is 1 case of twins. The “baby” weighs from two to three and a half tons, and its length is not at all childish - from 6 to 8.5 meters! The young whale is truly growing by leaps and bounds!

The female feeds the cub with milk until 7 months of age. During this period, it grows to 16 meters (that is, approximately twice or a little more) and already weighs about 23 tons. During the day, he receives 90 liters of milk from his mother and during this time gains 44 kilograms in weight. Such rapid growth is possible due to the unique qualities whale milk: fat and protein make up at least 50 percent of its weight! By the age of one and a half years, a young blue whale reaches a length of 23-24 meters and a mass of 50 tons.

Dimensions

The maximum length of the blue whale recorded in the photo is 33 meters, and the estimated weight of this giant is about 150 tons. Of the existing animals, he has no equal. And even among the inhabitants of past eras, scientists have not yet found anyone who could compete with him. Even in the Mesozoic era, when the Earth was much warmer and living conditions were conducive to the appearance of super-large animals.

Among the marine inhabitants of those distant times, there is no one who could compete with the blue whale. But, oddly enough, at that time seismosaurs lived on land, having a length from the tip of the tail to the head of 36-40 meters. But at the same time, the body was small; they achieved this length solely due to the relatively thin and long tail and long neck. And the weight of this Mesozoic land monster could not be compared with the mass of the blue whale, our contemporary - “only” some 50 tons!

Population size

Uncontrolled hunting of blue whales has led to a catastrophic decline in the population. If before the start of intensive fishing the population of the species was estimated at 215-275 thousand animals, then by 1964 only 650 individuals remained on the planet (according to the most minimal estimate) or up to 2 thousand - according to optimists. In 1965, hunting was banned, and the population began to recover. Currently, data on how the number of blue whales is growing varies greatly from one source to another.

One thing is certain: the population is slowly recovering. True, even the most optimistic zoologists do not believe that it will ever be possible to restore the population to the size it was before the start of hunting. The blue whale's habitat is divided into local areas, while back in the 19th century it included the entire World Ocean, with the exception of some inland seas. The total number of all subspecies is currently approximately 5 thousand individuals.

Industrial importance of the species

Today, the world's largest whale is still protected by international laws. Therefore, it has no commercial significance, being only an object of study. And in the past, he was killed for blubber - whale oil, which was used in various industries, and for whalebone. These horny plates were used to make furniture, brushes, and various frames.

Now there is no need to extract blubber and whalebone. Development chemical industry made it possible to replace these natural materials artificial analogues. Whale meat has long been a significant part of the diet northern peoples. But those times have sunk into the past, and even tribes that maintain a traditional way of life do without whale meat, preferring other products.

The blue whale is the largest animal on our planet. The blue whale can grow up to 33 m in length and weigh 150 tons. It is found in almost all areas of the World Ocean, but extremely rarely swims to the equator.

The blue whale got its name from its skin - it is gray in color, with a blue tint and covered with gray marble spots along its entire length. The head and lower jaw are somewhat darker, the back is of a lighter tone, the sides and belly are almost white. If you look at this animal when it swims underwater, but is not far from the surface, it appears blue.

Blue whale

Vision, like the sense of smell, is not developed in these whales. Even though whales are mammals, they do not have external ears on their heads. The sound reaches them through the lower jaw, entering it, it is reflected and first reaches the middle and then the inner ear. They hear very well - hearing helps them navigate under water, communicate with relatives and get food for themselves. Ships and other noise that people make on the ocean cause them great inconvenience and trouble. It happens that whales even wash ashore due to the noise and die.

This animal uses its nose (blowhole) only for breathing. The blowhole consists of two nostrils located at the back of the head. When diving, the blue whale's nostrils are securely closed with a valve to prevent water from entering them.

whale nostrils

The king of the oceans inhales and exhales from one to four times in a minute. Before diving into the water, the lungs are filled with air, which, while the whale remains under water, is heated and saturated with moisture. When the giant floats to the surface, he forcefully exhales air, which, in contact with the cold outside, forms a column of condensed steam, it looks like a fountain.

"Fountain" at the whale

In one second, a whale can inhale about 2 thousand liters of air. If necessary, the whale can hold its breath for as long as two hours.

This giant swims quite slowly, its speed usually does not exceed forty kilometers per hour.

There is an interesting version that says that a whale can drown during sleep, since, while resting, it begins to sink down very slowly. This happens due to the fact that the presence of light adipose tissue in the animal is slightly higher specific gravity water. The whale's tail saves it from drowning: during sleep, the animal sometimes hits the water with it, thanks to which it floats to the surface again. At the top, the whale inhales, fills its lungs with air, and again slowly begins to plunge into the abyss.

They prefer to live alone, because it is difficult for several whales to feed themselves in one territory. The whale feeds on krill: crustaceans, algae, and small fish. The whale swims slowly, opening its mouth, where it gets in with the water. great amount krill.

Crustaceans that whales eat

After the food is in its mouth, it swallows it and pours the water back through the whalebone, and the food remains inside on the fringe. A full stomach can hold 1.5 - 2 tons of crustaceans.

Whalebone

In earlier times, people were sincerely convinced that it was possible to live in the stomach of a blue whale, and those swallowed by people traveled, sitting inside for several months. In fact, everything is not so simple, since a person will not be able to get through the throat of this huge animal - its diameter is the size of a saucer and is about 10 cm. Therefore, the whale will not be able to swallow either a person or a large fish.

Females give birth to one cub every 3-6 years. Pregnancy lasts almost a year. The weight of a newborn whale is from 2 to 3 tons, length - from 6 to 9 meters. A whale is not a fish, but a real mammal. The mother feeds the cub with milk for up to 7 months. But the baby does not suck milk like other mammals, but swims up to the mother’s belly, and the mother herself injects a stream of milk into the baby’s mouth. A baby blue whale is called a calf. A calf consumes about 90 liters of milk per day; by the age of seven months its growth is twenty meters in length and its weight is about 40 tons. The cub gains weight from 80 to 100 kg every day. And all thanks to the fact that blue whale milk is very fatty and thick, like sour cream.

The blue whale is quite capable of living to be 90 years old, and the oldest known whale died at the age of 110 years. Despite the fact that whales are not hunted now, harmful human activities are especially destructive for them: pollution of the oceans, especially with oil products, collisions with ships, the sounds of warships and submarines.

The blue whale is listed in the International Red Book and hunting them is prohibited.

Questions about the report about the blue whale

1. Where does the blue whale live?
2. What does it look like?
3. How do whales hear?
4. How do they breathe?
5. Why does the whale have a fountain?
6. What does the blue whale eat? How he does it?
7. Can a blue whale swallow a person?
8. Do whales lay eggs?
9. How does it reproduce?
10. Is it a fish or a mammal? Justify.
11. How long do blue whales live?
12. How can a person harm a whale?

According to one scientific theory, the modern blue whale is the descendants of ancient mammals that lived on land rather than in water millions of years ago. No matter how strange this assumption may be, the reasons for its existence are quite compelling: you just have to look at the structural features of the skeleton, and also pay attention to the fact that these oceanic giants do not have gills.

Moreover, these mammals do not spawn, but give birth to fully formed young, which are fed with mother's milk. So, what do whales look like and how long do they live? What are their dimensions and weight? Let's talk about all this in order.

The largest whale in the world: characteristics and types

It is known that this representative mammals- the largest in the world, the dimensions of which are truly impressive: the length of the blue whale is 34 m, and the weight of the blue whale is about 180 tons. It belongs to the vertebrate mammals.

If we compare with it the other representatives of this detachment, then their sizes will be significantly inferior:

Many people mistakenly believe that a whale is a giant fish, but this opinion is wrong, because out of all they have similar features, they only have two similarities: body structure and habitat. Moreover, there are big differences in the circulatory system, in the structure of the skeleton and even in the skin. The biggest difference between whales and ordinary fish is reproduction.

About the size of a whale

It’s worth starting with the fact that all these sea giants are divided into two suborder- these are mustachioed and toothy. Baleen whales are peaceful animals that feed on mollusks and plankton, which they filter out using their special whiskers, which have plates. Such mammals are considered the largest representatives of their kind, their body length in adulthood is more than 10 m.

Are toothed whales real? predators that hunt other mammals and other fish. Their representatives are very diverse, however, they are inferior in size to their peaceful counterparts: the body length of an adult predator does not exceed 10 m. Predators include river and ocean dolphins, beaked whales and sperm whales.

Now we can consider some of the most famous representatives:

Features of the largest mammal on the planet

First, it’s worth talking about how many years a blue whale lives, because this issue causes controversy among scientists. According to general data, on average such an animal lives about 80-90 years, but there have also been cases when this representative of mammals lived up to 110 years. However, according to other scientists who studied these giants in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the United States, these animals can live a maximum of 40 years.

Another one interesting feature- this is what all blue whales communicate with each other using ultrasound, and movement in space occurs due to echolocation. Such mammals have very poor vision, taste and smell.

It is interesting that in fact the skin of this animal is not blue at all or even blue, but ordinary gray. But if you look at them through the water, they really appear blue. In fact, that's how they got their name.

Many people wonder whether such a huge representative of mammals is dangerous for humans, because it is huge and seems to be able to swallow absolutely any prey. The answer here is clear - no, such mammals are not interested in people, because they prefer completely different food. The only way such a giant can cause harm is to accidentally overturn a ship that is located not far from it when surfacing.

These aquatic animals do not have gill openings, which means they need atmospheric air to breathe. To do this, they float to the surface every 10-15 minutes, and signal their appearance with a characteristic fountain of water.