What kind of food do blue whales eat?

The blue whale is a kind of whale. It is a marine mammal of the genus Cetaceae. It has four subspecies. It is considered to be the largest known animal on earth, with a length of 33 meters and a weight of 200 tons. It is distributed in all four oceans, with the largest number in the Antarctic waters, mainly temperate and cold zones with a water temperature of 5 to 20 ℃. Let's take a look at what the blue whales eat.

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. 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 old is the blue whale?

The blue whale is not only the largest cetacean, but also the largest living animal, and it is by far the largest mammal. It has 2000 kilograms of tongue, 3000 kilograms of skull, 1000 kilograms of liver, 500kg of heart, 8000 kilograms of blood circulation, and 45 kilograms of testes. If its intestines are straightened, the blood vessels are thick enough to hold a child. The visceral wall is more than 60 centimeters thick. The male animal's penis is 3 meters long and its power is astonishingly great, with a power of about 1500 to 1700 horsepower, making it a well-deserved giant and strongman in the animal world.

The activity law of the blue whale

Although some people have seen 50-60 blue whales move in groups, they seldom form groups, most of them are lonely, or only 2-3 blue whales move together. Amphibious blue whales are very harmonious with each other, swimming, diving, foraging and breathing together, like mandarin ducks, inseparable, leaving a wide waterway behind, three blue whales together, mostly female and a calf close together, followed by males. The distance is about 3 meters. Despite its huge size, slow movement and often motionless, it can rise and fall freely in the water, and its tail swings flexibly, which is not only the driving force for progress, but also acts as a rudder, with a speed of up to 28 kilometers per hour.

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.