Creature Feature - Blue Whale | Adventure Unbound

Species: Balaenoptera musculus

Trip: Loreto Kayaking, Blue Whale Day Trip, Whale Extravaganza

Habitat: All Oceans Excepting the Artic Zone

Likelihood of Encountering This Species: Extremely Often (During Season)

Imagine yourself enjoying the view of the ocean from a boat when suddenly a blow explodes at one side of your boat and a kilometric whale appears. That was my first encounter with a blue whale when I was studying marine biology. And it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve gone whale watching, it’s always an excellent experience.

Blue whales are one of the most amazing creatures that you will find in the ocean.  These majestic, immense creatures have a grayish-blue coloring. The only place that you can’t find blue whales is the Artic Ocean. That leaves a lot of room for there to be a good selection of blue whales--but there’s no place like Loreto to see blue whales during the winter season.

OTHER INTERESTING INFO ABOUT BLUE WHALES:

  1. These animals hold a very prestigious title as the largest animal to have ever lived in the Ocean or even on Earth. The length of a blue whale can vary but they can be up to 100 feet long and weight just over 200 tons!
  1. Want to know something funny? The weight of a whale heart is as heavy as, or heavier than, a car. The tongue of a blue whale is as heavy as an elephant. Imagine something like this moving on land?  It would be scary but in the ocean they are majestic.
  1. Blue whales don’t just have the title of being the largest animal on Earth, they are also one of the longest living animals on Earth. The earplugs of a blue whale show their age, in much the same ways that the rings of a tree do. Typically, a blue whale can live between 80 and 90 years. The oldest one that has been reported was over 110 years old.
  1. Though many species have small offspring, a calf from a blue whale can be up to 8m long. That is about 26 feet, longer than the tallest human. These huge calves come after an 11-to-12-month gestational period. With a birthing period that can be up to a year long, blue whales only mate every three years. Otherwise, the ocean might be full of these wonderful creatures.

BLUE WHALE CONSERVATION

Blue whales have inhabited the earth for ages. It wasn’t until the invention of harpoon guns that humans had been able to start significantly affecting the lives of these swift creatures. Because humans are still hurting these wonderfully amazing creatures, they are nearing extinction but it is classified as an extinction that can be prevented. Why?  Because most of the planet knows how to stop these massive creatures from dying. 

To prevent extinction, we need to take further measures to protect them. The good news is that there are plenty of groups trying to protect these creatures—making advancements and furthering preservation measures each year.