Photograph by Flip Nicklin
Map
Blue Whale Range
Audio
Fast Facts
- Type:
- Mammal
- Diet:
- Carnivore
- Average life span in the wild:
- 80 to 90 years
- Size:
- 82 to 105 ft (25 to 32 m)
- Weight:
- Up to 200 tons (181,437 kg)
- Group name:
- Pod
- Protection status:
- Endangered
- Did you know?
- When a blue whale exhales, the spray from its blowhole can reach nearly 30 ft (9m) into the air.
- Size relative to a bus:
Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. These magnificent marine mammals rule the oceans at up to 100 feet (30 meters) long and upwards of 200 tons (181 metric tons). Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant. Their hearts, as much as an automobile.
Blue whales reach these mind-boggling dimensions on a diet composed nearly exclusively of tiny shrimplike animals called krill. During certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) of krill a day.
Blue whales are baleen whales, which means they have fringed plates of fingernail-like material, called baleen, attached to their upper jaws. The giant animals feed by first gulping an enormous mouthful of water, expanding the pleated skin on their throat and belly to take it in. Then the whale's massive tongue forces the water out through the thin, overlapping baleen plates. Thousands of krill are left behind—and then swallowed.
Blue whales look true blue underwater, but on the surface their coloring is more a mottled blue-gray. Their underbellies take on a yellowish hue from the millions of microorganisms that take up residence in their skin. The blue whale has a broad, flat head and a long, tapered body that ends in wide, triangular flukes.
Blue whales live in all the world's oceans occasionally swimming in small groups but usually alone or in pairs. They often spend summers feeding in polar waters and undertake lengthy migrations towards the Equator as winter arrives.
These graceful swimmers cruise the ocean at more than five miles an hour (eight kilometers an hour), but accelerate to more than 20 miles an hour (32 kilometers an hour) when they are agitated. Blue whales are among the loudest animals on the planet. They emit a series of pulses, groans, and moans, and it’s thought that, in good conditions, blue whales can hear each other up to 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away. Scientists think they use these vocalizations not only to communicate, but, along with their excellent hearing, to sonar-navigate the lightless ocean depths.
Really Big Babies
Blue whale calves enter the world already ranking among the planet's largest creatures. After about a year inside its mother's womb, a baby blue whale emerges weighing up to 3 tons (2.7 metric tons) and stretching to 25 feet (8 meters). It gorges on nothing but mother's milk and gains about 200 pounds (91 kilograms) every day for its first year.
Blue whales are among Earth's longest-lived animals. Scientists have discovered that by counting the layers of a deceased whale's waxlike earplugs, they can get a close estimate of the animal's age. The oldest blue whale found using this method was determined to be around 110 years old. Average lifespan is estimated at around 80 to 90 years.
Between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales are believed to still swim the world's oceans. Aggressive hunting in the 1900s by whalers seeking whale oil drove them to the brink of extinction. Between 1900 and the mid-1960s, some 360,000 blue whales were slaughtered. They finally came under protection with the 1966 International Whaling Commission, but they've managed only a minor recovery since then.
Blue whales have few predators but are known to fall victim to attacks by sharks and killer whales, and many are injured or die each year from impacts with large ships. Blue whales are currently classified as endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List.
Mammal Features
-
Blue Whale Interactive
The largest animal ever to have lived, the blue whale is a marvel of bone and blubber, blowhole and baleen—in immense proportions. Get up close with these graceful giants.
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Valley of the Whales
An Egyptian desert, once an ocean, holds the secret to one of evolution’s most remarkable transformations. The origins of the marine mammal lie buried in the sands of Egypt.
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Oil to Wipe Out Gulf Whales?
If the Gulf of Mexico oil spill kills just three sperm whales, the local population may be in serious risk in the long run, experts say.
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In Hot Pursuit
They’re rarely seen. Even less often photographed. Bryde’s whales rocket through Pacific shallows to gorge on fish. Dive in for more.
Animals
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- Ammonite
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- Ankylosaurus Magniventris
- Ant
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- Arctic Hare
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- Asian Lion
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- Aye-Aye
- Baboon
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- Coyote
- Cretoxyrhina Mantelli
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- Cubera Snapper
- Deer Tick
- Devil Frog
- Dingo
- Dog Snapper
- Dolichorhynchops Osborni
- Domestic Cat
- Domestic Dog
- Draco Lizard
- Dugong
- Eastern Coral Snake
- Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
- Eastern Gray Kangaroo
- Egyptian Giant Solpugid (Camel Spider)
- Electric Eel
- Elephant Seal
- Elk
- Emperor Penguin
- Fennec Fox
- Firefly (Lightning Bug)
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- Fur Seal
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- Gelada
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- Giant Clam
- Giant Pacific Octopus
- Giant Panda
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- Giant Squid
- Gibbon
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- Golden Eagle
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- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Greater Flamingo
- Greater Rhea
- Great Horned Owl
- Great White Shark
- Green Anaconda
- Green Basilisk Lizard
- Green-Eyed Tree Frog
- Green Iguana
- Green Sea Turtle
- Grizzly Bear
- Groundhog
- Hammerhead Shark
- Harbor Porpoise
- Harp Seal
- Hawaiian Monk Seal
- Hawksbill Sea Turtle
- Hedgehog
- Henodus Chelyops
- Hesperornis Regalis
- Hippopotamus
- Honeybee
- Horned Toad (Short-Horned Lizard)
- Hornet
- Horse
- Howler Monkey
- Humpback Whale
- Impala
- Indian Rhinoceros
- Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
- Jackrabbit
- Jaguar
- Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
- Killer Whale (Orca)
- King Cobra
- King Vulture
- Kinkajou
- Koala
- Komodo Dragon
- Krill
- Ladybug
- Laughing Kookaburra
- Leafy and Weedy Sea Dragon
- Leatherback Sea Turtle
- Leopard
- Leopard Seal
- Leptoceratops Gracilis
- Lesothosaurus Diagnosticus
- Lionfish
- Little Red Flying-Fox
- Llama
- Lobster
- Locust
- Loggerhead Sea Turtle
- Lynx
- Macaw
- Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
- Mallard Duck
- Manatee
- Mandrill
- Marine Iguana
- Matschie's Tree Kangaroo
- Meerkat
- Meller's Chameleon
- Mexican Axolotl
- Mola (Sunfish)
- Mole Rat
- Monarch Butterfly
- Mongoose
- Mononykus Olecranus
- Moose
- Mosquito
- Mountain Goat
- Mountain Gorilla
- Mountain Lion
- Mouse Lemur
- Mudpuppy
- Musk-Ox
- Narwhal
- Nile Crocodile
- North American River Otter
- Northern Leopard Frog
- Nudibranch
- Nurse Shark
- Nutria
- Ocelot
- Olive Ridley Sea Turtle
- Opossum
- Orangutan
- Oriental Fire-Bellied Toad
- Osprey
- Ostrich
- Oyster
- Ozark Big-Eared Bat
- Pachycephalosaurus Wyomingensis
- Parrot
- Parrot Fish
- Peacock
- Pelican
- Peregrine Falcon
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Platecarpus
- Platypus
- Poison Dart Frog
- Polar Bear
- Porcupine
- Portuguese Man-of-War
- Prairie Dog
- Praying Mantis
- Proboscis Monkey
- Pronghorn
- Protosphyraena
- Protostega Gigas
- Przewalski's Horse
- Pufferfish
- Queen Angelfish
- Quetzal
- Raccoon
- Rainbow Trout
- Raven
- Red Crab
- Red-Eyed Tree Frog
- Red-Footed Booby
- Red Fox
- Red Kangaroo
- Red Leaf Monkey
- Red Panda
- Red-Tailed Hawk
- Red Uakari
- Rhesus Monkey
- Right Whale
- Ringed Seal
- Ring-Necked Pheasant
- Ring-Tailed Lemur
- Rockhopper Penguin
- Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
- Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
- Sailfish
- Saltwater Crocodile
- Sandhill Crane
- Sand Tiger Shark
- Scarab
- Scorpion
- Sea Anemone
- Sea Cucumber
- Seahorse
- Sea Otter
- Siberian Tiger
- Sifaka
- Skunk
- Sloth Bear
- Snow Goose
- Snow Leopard
- Snowshoe Hare
- Snowy Owl
- Sockeye Salmon
- Spectacled Bear
- Sperm Whale
- Spider Monkey
- Spotted Hyena
- Spotted Salamander
- Spring Peeper
- Squirrel
- Starfish (Sea Star)
- Steller Sea Lion
- Steller's Sea Eagle
- Stick Insect
- Stingray
- Styxosaurus Snowii
- Sumatran Rhinoceros
- Sun Bear
- Tapir
- Tarantula
- Tasmanian Devil
- Thescelosaurus Neglectus
- Thick-Billed Murre
- Thomson's Gazelle
- Three-Toed Sloth
- Tiger Salamander
- Tiger Shark
- Toucan
- Triceratops Horridus
- Triggerfish
- Troodon Formosus
- Tundra Swan
- Tusotheuthis Longa
- Two-Toed Sloth
- Tylosaurus Proriger
- Tyrannosaurus Rex
- Velociraptor Mongoliensis
- Wallaby
- Wallace's Flying Frog
- Walrus
- Warthog
- Warty Newt
- Wasp
- Water Buffalo
- Web-Footed Gecko
- Weddell Seal
- Western Lowland Gorilla
- Whale Shark
- White-Eared Kob
- White Rhinoceros
- White-Tailed Deer
- Whooping Crane
- Wildebeest
- Wild Turkey
- Wolf
- Wolverine
- Wood Stork
- Xiphactinus Audax
- Zebra
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