Blue Whales

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Blue Whales

• By Tiffany Thomas

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Scientific Name
Balaenoptera Musculus
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Classification

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Suborder
• Family
• Genus
• Species

• Animalia
• Chordata
• Mammalia
• Cetacea
• Mysticeti
• Balaenidae
• Balaenoptera
• Musculus

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Reproduction

• Blue Whales reproduce sexually. Reproduction
  occurs mostly during the winter to early spring.
  It also occurs near the surface and in warm
  waters. It takes 11-12 months to have a calf.
  Within thirty seconds of the calfs birth it can
  swim. Blue Whales reach maturity at age 15.

Endangered
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Evolutionary History
Continued
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Evolutionary History Continued

• Blue Whales are believed to have evolved from
  hoofed mammals like cows, camels, and sheep some
  45 million years ago - that's about 40 million
  years before man! Recent comparisons of some milk
  protein genes have confirmed this relationship
  and have suggested that the closest land-bound
  living relative of whales may be the
  hippopotamus. Throughout their evolution,
  cetaceans have become perfectly suited to an
  aquatic environment, and are virtually incapable
  of leaving it.

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Adaptations

• Predators Killer Whales have been known to
  kill baby blue whales. Man are also another
  predator.
• Food Krill, which they eat about 2,000 to 9,000
  pounds each day.
• Shelter The ocean is the only shelter they
  have.
• Adaptations They developed baleens (long
  bristle like structures) and an extensive throats
  so it is easier for them to gulp large amount of
  fish. They then shoot the water up through their
  blow holes, which are located on the top of their
  heads.

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Largest Animal in the World!!!

• Blue Whales are larger than any dinosaur ever
  to live. They are so huge that it is impossible
  for them to live anywhere else besides the ocean.

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Habitat

• The blue whale is found mostly in cold and
  temperate waters. It prefers deeper ocean waters
  to coastal waters.

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Feeding

• They are gulpers, filter feeders that
  alternatively swim then gulp a mouthful of
  plankton or fish - they lunge into dense groups
  of small sea organisms (krill or tiny fish) with
  an open mouth. 50 to 70 throat pleats allow the
  throat to expand a great deal. The water is then
  forced through the baleen plates hanging from the
  upper jaw.

http//www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Balaenop
tera_musculus/more_moving_images.html
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Other Interesting Facts

• A blue whale is so immense that it couldn't
  survive out of water! Its skeleton would collapse
  under its body weight.
• A blue whale is the loudest animal in the world
  even louder than a jet. And its sound can travel
  as far as 1,500 miles. The Blue Whale reaches 188
  decibels with just a whistle.
• Blue whales don't have a sense of smell. But
  their hearing is excellent. Since sound travels
  much faster underwater, whales can hear things
  many miles away.
• Whales can't drink seawater. Experts think whales
  are like camels they get all the water they
  need by burning fat. Stores of blubber make
  drinking water unnecessary.

Pictures
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Continued

• Weight of a Female Whale 136 000 kilograms 299
  828.677 pounds
• Weight of a Male Whale (same age) 99 800
  kilograms 220 021.338 pounds
• Female Whale are bigger than Male Whales.

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Pictures
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References

• http//www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/s
  pecies/Bluewhale.shtml
• http//school.discovery.com/schooladventures/plane
  tocean/bluewhale.html
• http//www.whalesongs.org/cetacean/blue_whale/home
  .html