21 Interesting Facts About Blue Whale

The blue whale is the largest mammal on the planet. The blue whale has no sense of smell, has very poor eyesight, and has no sense of taste. However, the blue whale does have well-developed senses of touch and hearing. So here are 22 Interesting facts about the Blue whale that will make you baffled.

1. The water in a blue whale’s mouth weighs as much as its entire body; this means that a 100000 Kg blue whale can take in 100000 Kg of water. After taking water in, it filters out tiny sea creatures through a unique comb-like structure in its mouth called baleen.
2. Blue whales are the largest and heaviest animal present on planet earth. It weighs anything from 50 to 200 tons (50000 – 200000 Kg) and can be long as 25 meters (78 feet).
3. The blue whale has the slowest heartbeat of any other mammal or animal – it only beats four to eight times a minute when diving, and When the whale is at the bottom of the ocean feeding, the heartbeat increases 2.5 times more than the minimum, and then gradually slows again.
4. Female blue whales give birth every two to three years, depending on lactation period and body conditions.
5. Whales have three-time elastic nerves than humans. When the whales’ mouths expand, collagen, the nerve bundles, and elastin unfold until the collagen stiffens, preventing over-elongation, and the elastin-like bungee cord snaps the nerves to their previous shape.
6. Calves (blue whales baby) enter the world already ranking among the planet’s most giant creatures. After about a year inside its mother’s womb, a baby blue whale emerges weighing up to 3 tons and stretching to 25 feet. It relies on mother’s milk about 570 liters a day and gains about 90 kg every day for the first year.
7. It’s been determined that calves reach sexual maturity at the age of 10 years.
8. A group of blue whales is called as Pod, a gam or a school.
9. Blue whales are one of the most long-lived creatures existing on the planet; they can live 80-90 years on average. Whereas the oldest whale found was of 110 years.
10. Blue Whales can only taste salt as they don’t have receptors for tasting sweet, savory, sour, and bitter.
11. The scientific name of a blue whale is Balaenoptera musculus.
12. There are five Subspecies of blue whales-:
    (i) North Atlantic Blue whales (b.m musculus) can be found in the North Atlantic and north pacific.
    (ii) Antarctic Blue whales ( b.m intermedia) can be found in the southern ocean.
    (iii) Pygmy Blue whale ( b.m brevicauda) can be found in the South Pacific Ocean
    (iv) Northern Indian Ocean subspecies (B. m. indica)
    (v) Chilean subspecies (B. m. unnamed subsp.)
13. A single 90-foot blue whale could yield up to 120 barrels of oil.
14. It is estimated that from the early 1900s, over 3,50,000 blue whales have been slaughtered, which lead to 99% of the extinction of the species. From 1966 they were brought under the protection of both the endangered species act and marine mammals protection act.
15. It is estimated that there are about 3000 to 4000 blue whales in the northern hemisphere, and 5000 to 10000 blue whales are left on the planet.
16. The blue whale is the loudest and lowest frequency producer animal on earth. Its whistle can reach up to 188 decibels which is louder than a jet engine that makes around 120 decibels of sound during take off.
17. The sound of the mammal can be detected from over 530 miles away.
18. Despite of their enormous size, the mammal can reach a speed of 50 km per hour (31 mph) for a short burst of time and usually travels at a speed of 20 km per hour.
19. It’s estimated that a blue whale’s tongue weighs about 3600 Kg (8000 Pound). It would weigh more than a female Asian elephant and two mid-sized cars.
20. The species have the biggest heart pumping on the planet. The heart of a blue whale weighs more than 453 kg and pumps about 227 liters of blood with each beat.
21. The only known natural threat to blue whales is the killer whale (Orcinus orca), although the rate of fatal attacks by killer whales is unknown.