Everyone who is even slightly interested in biology knows that the blue whale is the largest whale in the world. Photos and videos that capture this marine mammal always attract viewers. After all, blue is not only the largest whale. He is the largest animal currently on Earth.
And some paleontologists claim that he is generally the largest animal ever to exist on our planet. And even in the era of giant reptiles, there was no organism that exceeded its size and mass.
The biggest whale, of course, simply must be the owner of records in terms of everything "very-very". And he didn't disappoint. So, the list of blue whale records: the heaviest tongue in the world (up to four tons), the largest lung volume (over three thousand liters). Moreover, according to some estimates (however, clearly overestimated), the lung volume reaches fourteen thousand liters … Let's go further: the largest amount of blood is up to eight thousand liters, the largest heart is about a ton in the largest specimens. The pulse of a whale at rest is five to seven beats per minute,and only after immersion does it quicken to twelve.
A blue whale takes no more than four breaths per minute. It has the largest size of blood vessels: the cross section of the dorsal aorta reaches forty centimeters in diameter. Add to this a huge amount of fat (blubber), the total mass of which is a quarter of the entire mass of the animal (and even a little more). According to whalers, they came across whales weighing 180-190 tons. But these are still few, most animals do not grow to such huge sizes.
And although after reaching a record low number of blue whales (five thousand) in the mid-sixties of the last century, things went smoothly thanks to conservation measures, its number is now about ten thousand, which is many times less than one hundred and fifty years ago. The big whale still needs a lot of protection. And this should not be neglected.
At the same time, the largest whale never ceases to amaze with some features of the body structure that are not inherent in a giant, but in an animal of medium or even small size. For example, the throat of a blue whale has a diameter of only … ten centimeters! Therefore, he cannot swallow food of a larger size. The largest whale has a diet consisting of the smallest inhabitants of the ocean, primarily plankton. Along the way, he can swallow another little thing that happened to be nearby. Small squid and fish have been found in the stomachs of blue whales. In order to prevent large animals from entering the throat, the whale filters sea water through"whalebone" - several rows of horn plates.
Blue whales breed slowly. The female bears offspring for eleven months and can bring one or two cubs. The percentage of twins is no more than one. The size of a newborn whale is seven to eight meters, and its weight is two to three tons. The female feeds the kitten with milk until the age of seven months, and every day he receives ninety liters of nutrient fluid. Another record!
Since 1966, fishing for blue giants has been banned throughout the world. But their population is growing very slowly. And it's not about hunting them now. Much more impact is caused by environmental pollution. Oil products that enter the ocean accumulate in the body of female blue whales, and then are transferred to the calf, which negatively affects their he alth. Despite the growth in the number of these marine mammals, the existence of the species is still under threat.
