The largest whale on earth. What is the world's largest whale

We rarely come across wild animals in our lives, so most often we simply forget how big they can be. Cats, dogs, birds, less often cows or horses - against their background, a person can really seem like the king of nature. King...

But as soon as you move away from civilization, everything immediately falls into place: crocodiles, 7 meters long, elephants, sea and land, bears, giraffes, hippos, gorillas... it’s hard to keep the crown on your head next to you. But still, there is a creature on Earth that can easily outshine them all - the whale.

Underwater giants

These giants live underwater, where the laws of gravity do not operate as harshly as on the surface. This allowed them to grow to such an impressive size that only dinosaurs, and even then not all, managed to outdo it. And the largest whale in the world is swimming the seas right now.

This is quite interesting, because most often the creatures that exist today are smaller copies of those that inhabited the planet previously. Ancient whales, on the contrary, were much smaller. This is easy to explain: they were not born waterfowl, but replaced their legs with flippers and fins during development. Accordingly, relatively small animals descended under the water, and, having fallen into favorable conditions, began to gradually change their shape to hydrodynamic.

Being underwater kings, they still breathe air, bear and give birth to young, and even have hands and feet, although atrophied. It's just external signs, experts will list a dozen more.

But not all whales can boast of such sizes; among them there are also relatively small ones. But the biggest interest is still the huge whales. Let's talk about them in more detail.

Blue whale

At the moment, the blue whale is the absolute champion in size. Try to imagine: the length of his body is up to 30-35 meters (we remind you that 30 meters is the approximate height of a nine-story building). The mass of such a giant can reach 100-150 tons. Of course, most representatives of the species are somewhat smaller, but there were also larger specimens.

For example, a documented case was recorded when whalers caught a 190-ton female; there were also smaller ones, for example, a 178-ton specimen and many others.

And that's just the tail...

Some researchers argue that today's blue whales were being crushed, blaming barbaric extermination that reduced the number of whales from 275 (19th century, before fishing) to 5 thousand (1994). According to the stories and reports of whalers, at the beginning of the fishery, larger specimens were also encountered, so the longest whale could reach 40 meters, and 37-38 meter individuals were encountered regularly.

Scientists distinguish three subspecies of blue whales: southern, northern and dwarf. As is most often the case, the southern ones are the largest, the northern ones are slightly smaller. The funniest sound is the “dwarf blue whale”, because on average this “dwarf” is only 3 meters shorter than its larger counterparts.

The fin whale is the second largest. The weight of this whale can reach 40-80 tons, but it greatly depends on the chosen habitat. There are two subspecies of this animal - northern and southern types. Animals that prefer cold northern waters, are more compact, their length rarely exceeds 24-25 meters, while their southern counterparts often reach 27 meters.

Fin whales are the blue whale's closest relatives. In some cases, they even give birth to babies together.

bowhead whale

The third largest, the bowhead whale prefers cold northern waters. Perhaps if he had chosen warmer ones, he would have grown even larger, but even a length of 20-22 meters cannot but command respect. Interestingly, male bowhead whales are somewhat smaller than their beautiful halves, which grow up to 18 meters. But such injustice is characteristic of all cetacean species.

By the way, this large whale boasts not only its size, but also its life expectancy. Research in this area has not been going on for too long, but there are already known representatives of the species, whose age has exceeded the century mark. There are even references to a male aged 211 years. True, it was determined by an insufficiently accurate method, and even if the error is 20-30%, this whale remains one of the longest-livers.

The only representative of the sperm whale family today, the sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales. With luck, males can grow up to 20 meters in length and weigh 50 tons, although on average they are somewhat smaller. It is interesting that, unlike whales, the females of sperm whales are more fragile and petite. But they can hardly be called inches: 13 meters is an impressive size.

Not as graceful as the blue whale, but doesn't suffer from it at all

Interestingly, the sperm whale is the only representative of the cetacean order that can swallow a person whole. But it is also difficult to find such live-eaters in other orders. Several similar cases have been recorded. In one of them (extremely controversial and refuted), the victim even survived.

Such giants cannot but command respect, but they remain in the minority even in their own family. And the smallest whale looks like a real dwarf in comparison. For example, a dwarf whale rarely grows longer than 4-5 meters, and a baby sperm whale is even smaller - 2.4-3 meters in length, weighing up to 250-300 kilograms. Here's a mini-kit.

We hope that now you know which whale is the largest and which is the smallest. This will help you better understand who exactly should give the crown.

The blue whale or blue whale is a marine animal that is a member of the cetacean order. The blue whale belongs to the baleen whales of the genus minke whales. The blue whale is the most big whale on the planet. In this article you will find a description and photo of a blue whale, you will learn a lot of new and interesting things about the life of this huge and amazing animal.

The blue whale looks very huge, but it has an elongated and slender body. Big head This whale is equipped with small eyes and a sharp muzzle with a wide lower jaw. The blue whale has a blowhole, from which it releases a vertical fountain of water up to 10 meters high when exhaling. On the head in front of the blowhole, the blue whale has a noticeable longitudinal ridge called the “breakwater”.

The blue whale has a dorsal fin that is strongly displaced back. This fin is very small and has the shape of a pointed triangle. The back edge of the whale's fin is covered with scratches, which form an individual pattern for each whale. Using such patterns, researchers can distinguish each individual. The length of this fin is only 35 cm.

The blue whale has narrow, elongated pectoral fins that reach up to 4 meters in length. The caudal fin of the blue whale reaches up to 8 meters in width, it has a thick caudal peduncle and a small notch. All these elements help the blue whale easily control its large body in the water.

The blue whale looks very unusual thanks to its longitudinal stripes. Like all minke whales, the blue whale has many longitudinal stripes on the underside of its head that continue down its throat and belly. These stripes are formed by folds of the skin and help the blue whale's throat stretch when it swallows large volumes of water and food. A blue whale usually has about 60-70 such stripes, but there can be more.

The blue whale is the largest whale of all cetaceans at present. Also, the blue whale is the largest animal on Earth. The size of the blue whale is enormous and produces strong impression. The giants, 30 meters long and weighing more than 150 tons, are amazing. In blue whales, females are slightly larger than males.

The largest blue whale known is a female, which had a length of 33 meters, with a body weight of 190 tons. Among males, the largest blue whale weighed 180 tons, with a body length of 31 meters. Huge blue whales over 30 meters long are extremely rare today. Therefore, in our time, the length of the blue whale has decreased somewhat. At the same time, the mass of the blue whale also became slightly smaller.

The length of male blue whales varies from 23 to 25 meters. The length of the blue whale in females ranges from 24 to 27 meters. The weight of the blue whale is no less impressive than its length. The weight of a blue whale ranges from 115 to 150 tons. Individuals that live in the Northern Hemisphere are a couple of meters smaller in size than those that live in the Southern Hemisphere.

The vision and sense of smell of the great blue whale are poorly developed. But his hearing and sense of touch are well developed. The great blue whale has a huge lung capacity. The amount of blood in a large blue whale is over 8 thousand liters. The tongue of a blue whale weighs up to 4 tons. Despite such impressive numbers, the blue whale has a narrow throat, its diameter is only 10 cm. The heart of the blue whale weighs a whole ton and is the largest heart in the entire animal kingdom. However, his pulse is usually 5-10 beats per minute and rarely exceeds 20 beats.

The skin of the blue whale looks smooth and even, except for the existing stripes on the throat and belly. Blue whales are almost never overgrown with various crustaceans, which often settle on other whales in large quantities. The blue whale looks rather monotonous. He has predominantly gray skin color, with a blue tint. Sometimes the blue whale looks grayer, and sometimes its color has more blue tones. The blue whale's lower jaw and head are the darkest in color, the back is lighter, and the sides and belly are the lightest on the entire body.

There are gray spots along the body of the blue whale, they have different shapes and size. By these spots you can distinguish one or another whale. This coloring makes the blue whale look like it is made of marble. In the tail part the number of spots increases. Pectoral fins of a blue whale with inside They are much lighter in color than the rest of the body. However, the underside of the tail is much darker than the rest of the body. Through the water column, this whale looks absolutely blue, which is why the blue whale is called blue.

In cold waters, the color of the blue whale takes on a greenish tint, as the skin of this mammal becomes overgrown with microscopic algae, which form a film on its skin. The acquisition of this shade is characteristic of all baleen whales. Upon the whales' return to more warm waters, this plaque disappears.

Inside the mouth of this giant there are plates of whalebone, about a meter long, which consist of keratin. The longest plates of whalebone are in the back rows, and in the front part their length decreases to 50 cm. These plates reach a width of about half a meter. One baleen plate can weigh up to 90 kg. In total, the blue whale has 800 plates on its upper jaw, 400 on each side. The blue whale's baleen is a rich black color. The baleen plates have the shape of an inverted triangle, the top of which is broken into a hair-like fringe, which is quite rough and tough.

There are three subspecies of blue whale - northern, southern and dwarf, which are slightly different from each other. Sometimes another subspecies is identified - the Indian blue whale. The first two subspecies prefer cold circumpolar waters, while the rest inhabit mainly tropical seas. All subspecies have almost the same lifestyle. The lifespan of a blue whale is quite long and can be 90 years; the oldest whale was 110 years old. The average lifespan of blue whales is 40 years.

Previously, the blue whale's habitat was the entire world's oceans. At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of huge blue whales began to decline rapidly due to active fishing. The gigantic size of the animal's carcass attracted whalers. After all, you could get a lot of fat and meat from one big blue whale. So by 1960, the blue whale was almost destroyed and was on the verge of complete extinction; no more than 5 thousand individuals remained.

Now the great blue whale is still very rare - the total number of these animals is about 10 thousand individuals. The main threat to blue whales is sea pollution and disruption of their normal way of life. Also, the growth in the number of blue whales is influenced by their slow natural reproduction.

The blue whale lives in the waters of many states and territories throughout our planet. Previously, the blue whale's habitat occupied the entire world's oceans. Now the blue whale lives in different waters, depending on the subspecies. The northern and southern subspecies of blue whales live in cold waters. The southern subspecies is mainly found in cold subantarctic waters. Dwarf whales prefer life in warmer waters.

The blue whale animal rises quite far to the north - southern blue whales have been spotted off the coast of Chile, South Africa and Namibia. IN Indian Ocean the blue whale lives in equatorial waters all year round. They are especially often seen near Ceylon and the Maldives, as well as in the Gulf of Aden and Seychelles. This best places on the planet, for those who want to see whales.

IN Pacific Ocean blue whales are found off the coast of Chile. But they are absent off the coast from Costa Rica to California. At the same time, blue whales are becoming numerous in California waters. The blue whale lives from the Oregon coast to Kuril Islands and to the Aleutian ridge, but does not go far into the Bering Sea.

Great blue whales are no longer present in waters near Japan and Korea, but were once present. Blue whales are extremely rare in Russian waters. Small groups and single animals were seen near Cape Lopatka (the southernmost point of the Kamchatka Peninsula).

In the North Atlantic Ocean, blue whales are few in number compared to the number of individuals Southern Hemisphere. In the North Atlantic, the blue whale lives off the coast of Canada, in the areas between Nova Scotia and Davis Strait.

Blue whales are found off Iceland and in the Denmark Strait. Previously, the blue whale lived off the northwestern coast of the British Isles, the Faroe Islands and the coast of Norway. Occasionally, blue whales can be found off the coast of Spain and Gibraltar.

Blue whales are known to migrate. Whales spend the summer in the high latitudes of both hemispheres, but with the onset of winter, they migrate to warmer areas of lower latitudes. Winter migrations of the blue whale in the North Atlantic are poorly studied. It is still unclear why blue whales always leave Antarctica in winter and go north to warmer waters. Even though the former location still has enough food.

This probably happens because females, when giving birth to their young, tend to move them away from cold areas. Because blue whale calves have a poorly developed fat layer and are therefore not sufficiently protected from the cold. After all, the developed fat layer helps maintain the body temperature of blue whales even in the coldest waters.

Blue whales live alone, sometimes in small groups. But even in groups they swim separately. The blue whale is a diurnal mammal. The blue whale lives using vocal signals to communicate with its relatives. The sounds that the blue whale makes are infrasounds. They are very intense. Blue whales use infrasound signals to communicate over long distances during migrations.

Blue whales are able to communicate using signals over distances of up to 33 km. The blue whale's voice is extremely loud. There are known cases of recording the very intense voice of a blue whale at a distance of 200, 400 and even 1600 km. The blue whale also uses its signals to find a partner to start a family.

In general, the blue whale lives with a greater tendency to be alone than all other cetaceans. But sometimes blue whales live in small groups. In places where there is an abundance of food, they can create noticeable aggregations, which are divided into small groups. In these groups, blue whales keep to themselves. But the total number of such aggregations of blue whales can reach 50-60 individuals.

The blue whale can dive quite deep. The blue whale is capable of diving to depths of up to 500 meters for up to 50 minutes. Typical dives for a feeding blue whale are between 100 and 200 meters deep. Such dives last from 5 to 20 minutes.

A feeding whale dives rather leisurely. After surfacing, the whale's breathing accelerates, and it emits a fountain. When breathing is restored, the whale dives again. A blue whale at rest breathes up to 4 times per minute. Young whales breathe more frequently than adults. After a long dive to depth, the blue whale makes a series of short surfaces and shallow dives. During this time, the whale swims 40-50 meters.

The blue whale looks quite imposing and impressive when it jumps out of the water. The most spectacular surfaces are the first one after rising from the depths and the last one before diving. The whale surfaces, showing the very top of its head, then its back, dorsal fin and caudal peduncle.

When a blue whale dives into the depths, it tilts its head downwards. When the head is already deep under water, a part of its back with a fin is shown on the surface, which is always the last to go under water. The whale sinks lower and lower until it disappears under the water, never showing its tail. The blue whale lives by spending 94% of its time underwater.

Over short distances, the blue whale can reach speeds of up to 37 km/h, and in some cases up to 48 km/h. But the whale can't long time maintain this speed because it is too much stress on the body. The whale produces power up to 500 Horse power at this speed. A feeding blue whale moves slowly, within 2-6 km/h. But during migrations its speed increases to 33 km/h.

Because the whale is such an impressive size, adult blue whales do not have natural enemies. But young blue whales can become victims of attacks by a pod of killer whales. These predators drive the whale into the depths in a flock, where it weakens from lack of oxygen. The weakened animal will be able to be torn apart and eaten by killer whales.

There are currently no direct threats to the blue whale population. But there is a danger that long networks of 5 km pose for them. A huge number of people die in such networks. sea ​​creatures, although only one case of blue whales dying in them is known. In other cases, according to fishermen, large blue whales easily overcame such nets. Off the coast of Western Canada, blue whales have many markings on their skin from various fishing gear.

Blue whales also die in the Pacific Ocean from collisions with ships, the average is 1-2 cases per year. Some animals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence area have scars from collisions with ships. This is caused by the high concentration of blue whales combined with heavy shipping traffic in the area of ​​these waters. Today, despite the protection of blue whales, even in places where they are most numerous, there are still no restrictions on shipping. There are only recommendations to slow down in these waters, which are not followed by captains.

Nowadays, the greatest threat to blue whales comes from sea pollution, including oil products. Poisonous chemical substances that enter the sea accumulate in the fatty tissue of blue whales. It is especially dangerous when these substances accumulate in the body of females who are expecting the birth of cubs.

Human impact also affects the number of blue whales by disrupting their communications. Noise background of the sea in Lately has increased too much and the vocal signals of large baleen whales are often drowned out. After all, the noises that ships make have the same frequency as the voices of whales.

In connection with this, it becomes more difficult for whales to navigate and look for relatives, which also makes it difficult to find a partner during the mating season. The greatest damage in this case is caused by the hydroacoustic systems of warships, which operate in active mode.

The blue whale feeds on plankton, which is typical for baleen whales. The mammal blue whale has an excellent filtering apparatus, which is formed by the plates of the whalebone.

The blue whale feeds on krill, which is the main food in its diet. Sometimes the blue whale feeds on larger crustaceans and small fish. But still, small crustaceans predominate in the blue whale’s food composition. Massive aggregations of such crustaceans are called krill. In the photo below you can see a cluster of krill in the ocean.

Fish plays a minor role in the blue whale's diet. When ingesting masses of krill, the huge blue whale may accidentally ingest small fish, small squid and other marine animals. Sometimes the blue whale feeds on small crustaceans that are not krill.

The blue whale eats the same way as other minke whales. The whale swims slowly with its mouth open and takes in water with a mass of small crustaceans. The whale's mouth is very stretchable thanks to the stripes on the throat and the movable bones of the lower jaw. Having scooped up water with crustaceans, the whale closes its mouth. At the same time, the blue whale's tongue pushes water back through the whalebone. And the plankton that settles on the fringe of the mustache is swallowed.

The huge lower jaw, which is filled with water and food, becomes very heavy. Sometimes the weight is so heavy that it is difficult for the blue whale to move its jaw to close its mouth.

Therefore, the blue whale, taking food into its mouth, turns over on its side or back to make it easier to close. In this position, the mouth closes itself under the influence of gravity.

Due to its size, the blue whale is forced to consume a lot of food - a blue whale can eat from 3 to 8 tons of krill per day. A blue whale needs approximately 1.5 tons of food per day.

The natural growth of the blue whale occurs very slowly. The blue whale is the animal in which this process is the slowest among all baleen whales. Female blue whales give birth once every two years. This period can increase or decrease, it depends on the density of the blue whale population. In recent decades, it has unfortunately declined. The blue whale is a monogamous animal. Blue whales form long-lasting pairs. The male always stays close to the female, both during pregnancy and after the birth of the baby.

The duration of pregnancy for a female blue whale lasts about 11 months. Most often, one blue whale calf is born. The little giant is born 6-8 meters long and weighing 2-3 tons. Immediately after birth, a blue whale calf can move independently. The baby is born tail first. Females have a very developed maternal instinct, they are deeply attached to their cubs.

Blue whale calves, accompanied by females, begin to be seen from December to March. Breastfeeding for blue whale calves lasts about 7 months. During this time, the blue whale calf reaches up to 16 meters in length and weighs 23 tons.

A blue whale calf consumes up to 90 liters of milk per day. Reaching the age of 1.5 years, a blue whale calf grows to 20 meters in length and 45-50 tons of weight. The milk of a female blue whale is very fatty and rich in protein. Its fat content ranges from 37 to 50%.

Blue whales become capable of breeding offspring at the age of 8-10 years. By this age, females reach 23 meters and weigh about 90 tons. Their full sizes The blue whale reaches length and bodily maturity by the age of 15.

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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. First scientific description this giant was made by the Scottish naturalist Robert Sibbald at the end of the 17th century, and modern Latin name The whale received Balaenoptera musculus in 1758 with the help of the famous Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus.

Lifestyle

View 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 a large number of 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, although a short time. A average speed swimming 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 of whale milk: fat and protein make up at least 50 percent of its mass! By the age of one and a half years, a young blue whale reaches a length of 23-24 meters and a weight 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 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 such a 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 given time 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 with artificial analogues. Whale meat has long been a significant part of the diet of 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.

Scientists have put forward a theory that the ancestors of whales were mammals that previously lived on land. The skeletal structure of these animals now living in the sea confirms this hypothesis. They are not like fish, since they do not spawn, do not breathe with gills, and their young are born fully formed and are fed with mother's milk. What are whales? The size of some representatives of this order is impressive. Let's look at them.

The biggest whale

The dimensions of the largest giant, according to some sources, were: body length about 34 meters with a weight of 180 tons. Blue, or as it is also called, according to the classification, belongs to vertebrate mammals. On average, representatives of this species grow up to 30 meters. They weigh about 150 tons.

The sizes of whales (photos) of other species are more modest. For example, a toothy sperm whale has a body length of about twenty meters, and a killer whale - no more than ten. Dolphins are also cetaceans. The size of these mammals is even smaller. Most big dolphin rarely grows more than three meters long.

Many people consider whales big fish. In fact, this is a misconception. The only thing similar about them is general structure bodies and habitat. There are significant differences in nervous activity, blood circulation, skeletal structure, skin. Reproduction of offspring and their feeding are the same as for land mammals.

Whales: sizes and varieties

Scientists divide representatives of these mammals into two suborders. They differ significantly in lifestyle and nutrition. One group is another - toothed ones. The names already contain characteristics of their way of life.

Baleen whales are peaceful animals. They feed on plankton and mollusks, filtering them from the water column through the baleen plates. Most of them have a body length of more than ten meters in adulthood. Species features representatives of this suborder and their way of life differ little.

Toothed whales are predators. Their food is fish and other suborders are more diverse. Most representatives have body sizes up to ten meters. The following families are distinguished: oceanic and river dolphins, sperm whales, beaked whales. They, in turn, are divided into subfamilies and genera, depending on the characteristics of the lifestyle and habitat.

Belukha

In the suborder of toothed whales there are representatives distinguished by their special skin color. They have it white. Hence the name - beluga whale. The animals belong to the narwhal family. Size white whale up to six meters. The weight of adult males reaches two tons. For comparison: a newborn baby blue baleen whale has approximately the same size.

Beluga lives up to forty years. Preys on schooling fish, crustaceans and mollusks. Lives in northern latitudes. Features of the species: a thick layer of epidermis and fat that protects against hypothermia, a “lobed” head and short oval-shaped pectoral fins.

The beluga whale does not have a specific color from birth. The cubs are born dark blue. At the age of one year they lighten and become grayish in color. And only after three years (usually by five years) do they acquire a characteristic white color.

Despite the fact that it is a large animal, the beluga can be hunted by another representative of the cetacean - the killer whale. Polar bears can also pose a threat to them. This happens when beluga whales find themselves trapped in ice holes by dense ice. They cannot stay under water for a long time, as they come up every two minutes to get some air.

Blue whale

It's on the planet. Scientists distinguish three types. Two of them: northern and southern, live in different latitudes. The third representative is the dwarf blue whale. Its dimensions are much more modest. An adult reaches only the baby weight of its normal counterpart. Dwarfs are quite rare and are found only in the southern seas.

With big animals, everything is big. The size of a whale's heart is comparable to a small car; it can weigh up to 700 kg. This is not surprising, because this organ constantly pumps up to 10 tons of blood. The diameter of the giant's artery is 40 cm, and a child can easily fit into it. The tongue weighs up to three tons. With this, the whale pushes large volumes of water out of its mouth through its baleen, the area of ​​which is more than twenty square meters.

Peculiarities

The color of blue whales is actually gray. But if you look at them through the water, it seems as if they have bluish tint. The sense of smell, taste and vision of these giants is poorly developed. But they hear well. Communication is carried out by transmitting ultrasonic signals, and orientation in space is carried out using echolocation.

Is the blue whale dangerous to humans? The size of these animals is enormous by our standards. However, they cannot eat a person. They have different food preferences. The diameter of the pharynx is only 10 cm. This is enough to pass plankton, small fish, crustaceans and mollusks. The only harm that a blue whale can cause is to accidentally overturn a ship that will be in close proximity to it when surfacing.

Cetaceans breathe atmospheric air. They must rise to the surface from time to time for the next portion of oxygen. In its normal state, the blue whale dives for 10-15 minutes. When ascending during exhalation, a characteristic fountain of water appears.

and lifestyle

The whales' habitat is extensive. Scientists do not have sufficient capabilities to track all their movements. It has been established that, depending on the season, blue whales migrate in search of food and optimal conditions. According to other observations, some animals are constantly located in the equatorial part of the Pacific Ocean.

It is believed that blue whales can live for hundreds of years. They are loners. Only sometimes do they gather in small groups during seasonal migrations. The mother feeds the cubs for at least six months. During the day, a growing “baby”, weighing up to ten tons, can drink 600 liters of mother’s milk.

Population and commercial catch

Scientists suggest that before the start of activity in the waters of the World Ocean, there were at least 250 thousand individuals of the largest animals on the planet. Today, according to the most optimistic forecasts, there are no more than 10 thousand of them left.

What value do whales have for humans? The body size of these animals is large by commercial standards. From one carcass, whalers received not only meat, but also blubber and whalebone. The meat is still popular in Japan, and it is not surprising that the fishery there is most active.

The blue whale population has decreased significantly. Over the past decades it has been destroyed a large number of adults. Female whales reach sexual maturity at ten years of age. Once every two years they can give birth. But the situation is such that most of the young animals become victims of fishing without ever reaching maturity.

Today, blue whales are protected. They are listed in the Red Book. But man and the consequences of his activities associated with pollution environment, still pose a serious threat to the entire population.