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The Gentle Giant: 5 Facts About the Blue Whale That You Should Know About

When it comes to one of the world’s majestic animals, you can look no further than the Blue Whale. These docile giants have been living a quiet life ever since humans took over the planet. These animals are known for their size and gentleness. You can often see blue whales in unique places where they’re known to come.

Some of these places are located in Iceland, Mexico, California, and the Azores. If you want to swim with these gentle marine mammals, you can go to Mirissa in Sri Lanka and enjoy the views as a bonus. Alternatively, you can also visit Los Angeles, California with professional divers and biologists to swim with blue whales or go for whale watching los angeles tour.

Do, however, heed the instructions of the professionals around you. These whales might be gentle, but a single flick of their tail can be enough to break bones and possibly kill a person unlucky enough to come near it. Avoid rough activities and respect these beautiful creatures. With that said, here are some more facts about the blue whale:

Blue Whales Are Mammals

Most of the time, people still confuse whales and dolphins as fish. In reality, these animals are mammals because of their mammary glands. If you’re impressed with these blue whale facts, then here’s another one: Unlike the majority of fish species, whales give live birth to their young, which are also called calves.

They Have Predators

Aside from human beings, large creatures seldomly have a predator that hunts them. The blue whale, however, despite its massive frame, is being hunted by killer whales, or more famously known as Orcas. Although orcas are much smaller compared to blue whales, they’re still considerably huge compared to a human being.

Apart from their size, killer whales have sharp teeth and can swim faster than blue whales. What makes these predators terrifying is their intelligence. Killer whales have been known to hunt in packs and execute their clever strategies. If you see a blue whale with scars and wounds, those likely came from a killer whale attack.

Blue Whales Are Often Solitary

Most of the time, you can see a blue whale swimming alone. Due to a blue whale’s intelligence, they can group up with each other in certain situations. Such a situation occurs when a killer whale attacks or when blue whales need to feed. Blue whales often travel in twos to fours.

Alternatively, blue whale calves often stick to their mothers for ten years before they grow and separate.

Blue Whales Eat Microscopic Krill

Despite their huge mouths, blue whales never eat human beings or anything larger. Stories that tell of whales swallowing ships and boats are just untrue because they’re aren’t anatomically able to do such a feat. 

Instead, these gentle diets prefer feeding on krill and plankton. Krill are small crustaceans such as shrimps or crabs. Plankton, on the other hand, is a mixture of tiny animals and plant matter that freely float in considerable quantities in the ocean.

Blue Whales Are the Loudest Animals on Earth

When a blue whale communicates with other blue whales, they often emit a loud sound from their mouths. These sounds can be heard for several hundreds of kilometers away. A blue whale primarily communicates when it wants to mate or form groups. 

Another use for these sounds is echolocation. Unlike other marine animals, a blue whale’s sense of smell is underdeveloped. As compensation, blue whales can use echolocation for navigation; the same way bats use echolocation when flying during the night.

Takeaway

Blue whales have been the subject of inspiration and greatness because of their gentle nature despite their massive size. Sadly, blue whales are also endangered because of excessive hunting. Hopefully, the facts mentioned above provide insight and help the conservation of these majestic creatures. After learning facts about the blue whale, Here are more facts about the ocean

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