Blue Whale Essay Example For Students

Blue Whale Essay GENERAL DESCRIPTION The largest animal that has ever lived on earth is the blue whale. Not only is this creature the largest, it is also the loudest. Blue whales only eat small organisms, such as plankton and krill. They are found living in small groups, or more commonly known as pods. They have 2 blow holes and have 5-30cm thick layer of blubber. SIZE The blue whale can grow up to 25m long on average. They weigh 109 tonnes. The largest blue whale found was a female. It was 27m long and weighed more then 158 tonnes. The females are always larger then the males are. The largest of the blue whales has a heart that weighs around 450 kg and has 6,400 kg of blood going around its body. Blue whales have a heart the size of a Volkswagon beetle. And a its main blood vessel is big enough to crawl through. LOUDNESS The loudest animal on earth is also the blue whale! When they make a sound, it can reach up to 188 decibels. They make a low-frequency whistle that can be heard from hundreds of miles away. The blue whales call is even louder then a jet (140 decibels). Human shouting is 70 decibels. Sounds over 120 decibels hurt the human ear. It weightstwenty pounds . It can be used like a computer. The sperm whale has ears butvery little hair. Sperm whale can dive a mile under the water. Two thousand feetunder the surface, a sperm whale might appear. The sperm whale can go underwaterfor more than half an hour. In addition, many toothed whales are believed to usetheir sonar capabilities to stun their prey with a gsonic pulseh. The narwhal,an unusual toothed whale with a tooth piecing the upper lip, is believed to bethe basis of the legendary unicorn. Southern right whales have been seen toraise their flukes in the air and use them as sails. Grey whales are able toswim in water as shallow as 6 feet! There are four species of dolphins thatinhabit fresh water rivers. Some species of whale lice, small crustaceanssimilar to terrestrial lice, can be found only on one type of whale. Whalingstill occurs today with Japan and Norway being the primary hunters. Fin whalesare the second largest animal ever to live on earth. They have been measured toover 80 feet long in Antarctic waters. Fin whales are the only known mammal tohave regular asymmetrical coloration. The right side of their lower jaw andbaleen are white, while the left side is black. The tongue has the reversecoloration. It is thought that they use the white color to startle and stun fishschools when they feed. There is no known winter breeding ground for fin whalesanywhere in the world. Scientists think they may go offshore and disperse duringthe winter. Reproduction is seasonal, but no concentration area is known. Theonly natural predator of humpback whales is the killer whale (orcas), andpossibly sharks to very young calves or badly injured whales. Up to 15% ofhumpback whales in an area may have scars from orca attacks that they havesurvived. Thats what I researched about previous amazing facts on whales. Ienjoyed to researching about whales. I think they are very intelligent and coolanimals in the ocean!