What is the information about the blue whale?

Blue whale is a kind of whale, also known as razor whale. It is a very large marine mammal of the genus Cetaceae. It is not only the largest cetacean, but also the largest living animal. By far the largest mammal, some Mesozoic dinosaurs may be longer than blue whales, but their weight is still difficult to compare. Let's take a look at the data of blue whales.

Morphological characteristics of blue whale

The body surface of the blue whale is light blue or mouse gray, there are light broken markings on the back, white spots on the chest, more than 20 fold grooves on the chest, and the abdomen is also covered with folds, reaching to the navel, with ochre yellow macula. the female has cleavage on both sides of the reproductive foramen, with slender nipples, a relatively small and flat head, two air holes, located at the top of the head, wide snout, large mouth, no teeth in the mouth and wide maxilla. It protrudes upward in an arc, with black whisker plates, up to 300 cm on each side, 90 cm in length and 110 cm in length and 50 cm in width. A lot of wax is accumulated in the eardrum every year, and its age can be judged according to the thickness of the wax.

Feeding habits of blue whales

The blue whale feeds on plankton, and krill is the main food of the blue whale. This kind of plankton belongs to different species according to different ocean regions. In the North Atlantic, northern krill is the main food of blue whale, while in Antarctica, Antarctic krill is the main food of blue whale. The diving time of blue whale is generally 10 minutes in the process of foraging. It is not unusual to dive for 20 minutes. The longest diving time is 36 minutes. In the process of predation, swallow large groups of krill at one time, swallow a large amount of sea water at the same time, then squeeze the abdominal cavity and tongue, squeeze the sea water out of the whalebone plate, and swallow the rest of the krill that cannot pass through the whalebone plate when the sea water is discharged from the mouth.

The breathing pattern of the blue whale

Although the blue whale lives in the sea, like other mammals, it breathes through its lungs. The lungs weigh more than 1000 kilograms and can hold more than 1000 liters of air. Such a large lung capacity greatly reduces the number of times it breathes. It only breathes out of the water every 10 to 15 minutes. Whenever its head comes out of the water to breathe, it first expels the carbon dioxide and other exhaust gases from the body. When this powerful hot air rushes out of the nostrils, the jet can reach a height of about 10 meters, and the nearby sea water is also swept out of the sea, so that a spectacular column of water appears on the blue sea surface, which looks like a sea fountain from afar. At the same time, it also makes a loud sound like a train whistle, which is called "spray tide". People can determine the position of the blue whale according to the sound it makes when it jets, the height and shape of the tide.

The sound system of orcas

The blue whale is the loudest animal in the world, using a low-frequency, deafening sound when communicating with a partner, which can sometimes exceed 180 decibels, louder than the sound you hear when a jet plane takes off on the runway. A sensitive instrument has detected the sound of a blue whale from 80 kilometers away. But humans may not realize that the blue whale is the loudest animal. All blue whale populations produce sound at a fundamental frequency of 10 to 40 hertz, while the lowest frequency that humans can detect is 20 hertz and the sound duration is 10 to 30 seconds.

The breeding habits of blue whales

The blue whale breeds in winter. The female usually gives birth every two years. The gestation period is 10 to 12 months. Each calf only gives birth to one calf. The calf weighs about two and a half tons and is about 7 meters long. In order to prevent suffocation, the female should hold the calf out of the water for the first breath. After that, it can breathe on its own. The female has a pair of nipples on both sides of the reproductive hole, swims in the upper layer of the sea during lactation, and the calf is immediately below the female. Because the cub does not have movable lips and cannot suck milk with its own nipple, the female sprays the milk directly into the cub's mouth by virtue of muscle contraction, which is also a good adaptation to life in the water. The age of sexual maturity of blue whales is about 8 to 10 years old, and their life expectancy is generally over 50 years old, with a maximum of 90 years and 100 years old.