How old is the blue whale?

The blue whale is a kind of whale, which belongs to the marine mammal of the genus Cetaceae. It is considered to be the largest known animal on earth, with the largest number in Antarctic waters, mainly in temperate and cold zones with a water temperature of 5-20 ℃. Let's take a look at how big the blue whale is.

How old is the blue whale?

The blue whale is not only the largest whale, but also the largest living animal, and it is by far the largest mammal. Some dinosaurs in the Mesozoic era may be longer than the blue whale, but their weight is still difficult to compare, reaching 33 meters long and weighing 200 tons. A tongue has 2000 kilograms, skulls 3000 kilograms, liver 1000 kilograms, heart 500kg, blood circulation 8000 kilograms, and male testicles 45 kilograms. If its intestines are straightened, it is 200 feet, 300 meters, the blood vessels are thick enough to hold a child, the visceral wall is more than 60 centimeters thick, the male's penis is 3 meters long, and an adult blue whale can grow to about 30 times the body weight of an African elephant.

What kind of food do blue whales eat?

Like other baleen whales, blue whales mainly feed on small crustaceans (such as krill) and small fish, sometimes including squid. Krill is the most numerous animal in the world and is widely distributed in the north and south polar seas. It is precisely because of such abundant food, and there is no weight limit for living in the water, so the blue whale can grow so large. Blue whales feed on other shrimps, small fish, jellyfish, diatoms, and various kinds of plankton. By contrast, blue whales living in the northern waters are smaller than those living in waters near Antarctica. It is generally believed that this is closely related to the type and quantity of food.

How much does the blue whale eat?

The head of the blue whale is so big that it can stand 50 people on its tongue, the heart is as big as a car, and the baby can climb over its arteries. The newborn blue whale calf is heavier than an adult elephant. In the first seven months of its life, the baby whale drinks 400 liters of breast milk every day. The baby whale grows very fast and gains 90 kilograms every 24 hours. The stomach of a blue whale is divided into four. The first stomach is swollen by part of the esophagus, so it has a great appetite. It can swallow about 2 million krill at a time. It eats 4000-8000kg of krill every day. If the food in its stomach is less than 2000 kg, it will feel hungry.

How long is the life span of the blue whale?

The life span of a blue whale is generally over 50 years old, up to 90 years old and 100 years old, and the age of sexual maturity is about 8 years old. In winter, the female usually gives birth every 2 years, and the gestation period is 10 to 12 months. Each baby whale weighs about two and a half tons and is about 7 meters long. In order to prevent suffocation, the female should lift the calf out of the water to breathe the first breath, and then it can breathe on its own. The female has a pair of nipples on both sides of the reproductive foramen, swimming in the upper layer of the sea during lactation, and the cub follows closely behind the female, because the cub does not have movable lips and cannot hold the nipple to suck the milk on its own. by virtue of muscle contraction, the female spurts the milk directly into the cub's mouth. Blue whale milk is very rich in nutrition, in which the content of fat is 10 times that of milk, while the young suck more than 1000 kilograms of milk every day, so they grow very fast. After eight months, they can increase to 15 meters, and their weight increases to 23000 kilograms. They can open their mouths to eat all kinds of plankton, and by the time they are two and a half to three years old, their body length can exceed 20 meters.