Sunday, October 2, 2016

The Blue Giant

It would only makes sense that the biggest animal in the world is also the strongest. The blue whale is an ancient mammal that dwells in the great blue sea.
https://www.google.com/search?q=blue+whale&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS709US709&espv=2&biw=1706&bih=792&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=
isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_4ZOVrL3PAhXINx4KHczbBCgQ_AUIBigB&dpr=2.25#imgrc=dLJAXKjKeWvkTM%3A

 The blue whales(Balaenoptera musculus) rule the oceans; they travel through all the oceans and migrate north and south for breeding and feeding.
http://173.210.1.82/Activities/Perini/Emily%20Brawer%20Website%20Blue%20Whale/lives.htm
During the summer years they will migrate down south. When it gets to cold and time comes for winter they move towards the equator, this then brings the time of breeding. A blue whale calf will spend about a year in their mothers womb when they are finally born they follow their mother around for milk for about a year. These calves will live an average life span of 80 - 90 years, and grow to an estimation of 200 tons and a length of about 100 feet. These whales will travel in pairs or small groups and communicate to each other with moans and groans these noises also assist hem in navigating the ocean. A blue whale can hear another blue whales calls from hundreds of miles away.
To hear what a blue whale kind of sounds like check out this link: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/acoustics/whales/sounds/sounds_whales_blue.html
Blue whales are very strong mammals they are the strongest mammals in the world capable of maximum forces of 60 kN! These whales get all their energy from krill which they gulp up and then filter in between their fine plated teeth.
These teeth are obviously not used for crushing animals or shredding but for only filtering.
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https://www.google.com/search?q=blue+whale+teeth&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS709US709&espv=2&biw=1706&bih=792&
)
These ocean mammals are beautiful creatures and provided much oil in the early 1900s. However, unfortunately conservation was not a big priority 100 years ago. In the early 1900s there was an estimation of 300,000 blue whales in the world. Today the population varies from 10,000 - 25,000 and is slowly rising. Blue whale however like most whales are in several accidents and have caused several injuries too humans, this is mostly because observers accidentally get tied up with whale pods or groups while observing and ships often capsize or sink do to whale running or jumping by and into them. Few scuba divers have accidentally gotten too close to blue whales while observing and have been knocked unconscious by their huge massive tails.

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