blue whale

an animal – mammal – a deep sea and ocean living mammal – lives in water but breathes air – streamlined body with shades of bluish-grey; grows to 100 feet (30 m) long and weighs 180 tonnes; feeds on very small shrimp-like animals called ‘krill’, small fish and rarely squid; lives for about 30 years; found in the deep seas and oceans of the world

male ~~ bull

female ~~ cow

baby ~~ calf

group ~~ school, herd, pod

voice (call) ~~ whale song

Special Features:
This air-breathing water mammal lives its entire life in salt waters.

It is the largest of the whale family, and world’s largest animal that has ever lived on the earth; it’s equal to 25 male African adult elephants.

Blue whales feed for 8 months of the year and then go without food for the other 4, living off their reserves of fat or blubber built up during the days of plenty.

Strangely enough, almost every other measurement being so large, a blue whale’s oesophagus or gullet is a mere 4 inches or 10 cm in diameter; therefore, it would have problems swallowing a whole grapefruit. So the story of a whale swallowing Jonah is just a folklore.

There is this pygmy blue whale, Balaeopnoptera musculus brevicauda, found in the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean.

Hunted to near extinction (killing all the animals of this species so that there is no one of its kind living on the earth) but this gentle giant is believed to be brought back to considerable numbers at present.