Blue Whales

STATUS: Critically Endangered

ABOUT

Out growing even the Dinosaurs, the Blue Whale is the largest animal to ever live on this planet.  They grow up to 33 metres which is about the same length as 3 London buses.  Weighing up to a whopping 150,000 kg, equivalent to around 33 Elephants. The reason these animals grow to these magnificent sizes is down to one thing, gravity.  This force stops animals on land growing to these enormous sizes by limiting the amount their skeletons can support.  But buoyancy removes this limitation from marine animals, allowing them to grow to these great lengths.

The Blue Whales live in an endless cycle of migration across the world’s oceans, gracefully feasting on a diet of tiny crustaceans known as krill for their entire 80-90 year lifespan. They live in warmer waters when they are breeding and raising their young, then to the colder waters to feed.  They are capable of eating up to 4 tonnes of krill a day, that is equivalent to around 40 million of these tiny little crustaceans.  Whilst travelling across the depths and breaths of the deep blue sea they eat very little, and survive mainly on their blubber reserve, traveling for up to 4 months at any one time.

Blue Whales also produce one of the loudest sounds in the world - it can be heard for up to 1,000 miles away.  The sounds made have been recorded to reach up to 188 decibels.  That makes them louder than a jackhammer that has sounds of about 101 decibels and even louder than a jet engine, creating sounds of around 140 decibels. 

Females carry their young for around twelve months before giving birth.  After this the young are by their side for the next 7 to 9 months, this builds a strong bond between the mother and baby.  Before they are weaned baby Whales can drink an enormous amount of up to 250 litres of milk each day. 

We are supporting the WDC to try and restore the numbers of whales, dolphins and porpoises in the wild and stop them being held in captivity.  Once upon a time there were hundreds and thousands of blue whales in our oceans.  But today, because of extensive pre-industrial hunting and other factors their population has dropped to around 10,000 to 25,000.  With your help we hope to contribute to making sure whales do not go into extinction and for their population to continue thriving.