The most gigantic mammalian on planet Earth is a blue whale. He is also called as he poured. Kit can have a mass of one hundred and seventy tons and a maximum length thirtythree meters. Blue whale belongs to the genus called “stripes”. First described the blue whale, Robert Sibbald (1864), so for many years the whale was called the “Street Sibbald”.
Today’s name is the blue whale is assigned to Karl Linnei. It came from the phrase Balaenoptera musculus (Latin), the literal translation of “winged mouse”.
Description
Scientists have not studied the blue whale for a long time. The systemic study of this natural giant began in the last decade of the twentieth century. Experts divided it into four types and appropriated them the following names:
All species have some differences, but they are insignificant. Northern and southern views of the blue whale like cold nearpolar waters. Dwarf and Indian blue whales inhabit the tropical zone. In the way of life, representatives of all types have no special differences.
The body of the blue whale is quite long and elongated. The head also has huge sizes. It is approximately equal to one third length of the body. U-shaped head shape.
There are a lot of skin folds in the form of stripes on the belly of a whale. They contribute to stretching the pharynx, while swallowing water with a whale. They also play an important role in hydrodynamic body manipulations during movement.
If we compare with all types of mustachioed whales of the planet, then the fin in the upper part of the whale will be less than that of other individuals. Its length is about 35 centimeters and it is located closer to the tail.
Whales have an incredible mass: from 150 to 180 tons. The weight of the largest blue whale was 190,000 kg, and the length of the body was 33 meters. It was a female. And the largest of the males of the blue whale was thirtyone meter length, and weight 180,000 kg.
Blue whales living today in the waters of the oceans were crushed: with a length of more than thirty meters, you can find very rarely and their mass also gradually decreases.
Appearance: characteristics and features
Blue Kit is a mammal giant. Individuals living in the northern seas and oceans are usually 2-3 meters less than those that swim in the oceans of the tropical zone.
Representatives of the subspecies of the blue whale have the following parameters:
The skeleton of the southern whale
A huge body is streamlined and elongated in length. A wide jaw is located in the lower part of the head of the head. Very small eyes and respiratory organ, located on the head are poorly developed. Keith has poor vision and weak smell. Exhalation is accompanied by the release of a water fountain of a tenmeter height. In front of the respiratory organ there is a comb located along the upper head, it is called a wave.
Whales have good hearing and touch. They compensate for poor smell and insufficient vision.
Shifting back a fin on the back, has the shape of a triangle. Its sizes are small and it is covered with small recesses or scratches. The drawing on the fin, created by nature is unique for each individual. Sums located on the chest are narrow and elongated. Their length is about four meters. The tail fin is wide. Its width is almost eight meters. There is a small neckline on the thick stem of the tail. It helps body control when moving in water.
A distinctive feature of the blue whale is numerous stripes, starting at the bottom of the head and continuing in the throat and belly. The number of these strips, which are folds of the skin, ranges from 60 to 80.
In the top of the body is smooth skin. It is painted in gray, but has a blue tint. In dark color, nature was painted with the lower area of the head, and the back has a light shade. On the entire surface of the skin, gray spots that have an uncertain shape are distributed different in size. The skin of the whale resembles a marble stone.
If the whale is shallowly immersed in water, its body becomes absolutely blue. Obviously, therefore, the animal was called the “blue whale”.
In the mouth of the Chita giant, there are meter plate of a whale mustache. They are made of keratin. In order not to miss through the mouth of an animal large size for this, a whale needs a mustache. He plays the role of the filter.
The plates have a width of about fifty centimeters. The mass of one plate is almost ninety kilograms. Eight hundred plates are fixed in the upper jaw. They are triangular. A hard hairshaped fringe sticks out at the top of each plate.
Characteristics:
Life expectancy
The blue whale has a fairly large life expectancy. He lives ninety years. Can live longer. Studies have shown that the oldest whale was 110 years old. The figure of average value indicating the life expectancy of the giant is calculated, it is small forty years.
Where it lives
In summer, blue whales prefer to live in the Arctic and Antarctic zones. In winter, they move to the areas of warm ocean waters. For example, dwarf whales constantly live in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.
In the area of the Antarctic and Arctic seas, the feed base is sufficient for living all year round. Why are whales in winter begin to migrate in the southern regions? Experts explain: whales are frozen, being in ice water for a long time due to a thin layer of subcutaneous fats. Individuals of blue whales live much more in tropical areas than in the northern regions. Experts identified only nine populations of the species in northern waters.
Diet
The blue whale feeds on the following marine inhabitants:
Of course the diet is not very diverse. The main food of the whale is plankton. Fish come across a whale by chance when it swallows crustaceans. If there is not enough plankton in the way, then the whale swims to a flock of fish and swallows them. Exactly the same story with squid.
Kit, having met a accumulated plankton, makes a swim at high speed and at once captures a huge amount of water with a mouth. The animal spends tremendous energy on food, so it needs to look for places with a large accumulation of food. In the stomach of the whale, about two tons of food are placed.
For the whale to get saturated, it must swallow 1,500 kg of food in one reception. The food rate of one day is four tons of food. To get food, the whale dives into a water thickness to a depth of 90-150 meters.
Lifestyle
Blue whales lead a separate lifestyle. More often swim alone. But it happens that they are going to small herds. In the animal, the main activity is carried out during the day. To communicate with their brothers, whales use infrasound signals. They can spread them to fairly large distances (maximum 33 kilometers).
In those places where there is an abundance of food, whales are gathered in packs. The herd may have up to 60 animals. While in a pack with brothers, the whale always holds on isolated.
A blue whale is able to dive into the water for about five hundred meters and there is a maximum of fifty minutes there. When eating food, it plunges into a water thickness of 200 meters with a frequency of 6-19 minutes. Emerging, always emits a water fountain.
When moving, a blue whale can develop the highest speed of about 48 km/h. During food, the animal does not move very quickly (2-6 km/h).
Reproduction
A long period for the reproduction of offspring does not allow whales to multiply quickly. The growth of individuals is very slow. Blue whale is distinguished by monogamy. The male finds his female and then he will be around her all his life and protect. The female can get pregnant only 1 time within two years. She hates cubs for a whole year.
Newborn Kitenok:
When the cub takes a year and a half, it grows up to 20 meters and weighs almost 50 tons.
Blue whale is breeding sexuality when it turns ten years old. The body reaches a full-fledged physical formation by the age of 15. By this time, the whale is completely growing and gaining adult weight.
Population today
Intensive hunting led to a strong reduction in the number of blue whales. According to researchers, about 2000 individuals remained on Earth. 600 individuals live in the naval waters of the North. Blue whale or poured is considered an endangered look. Today under a strict ban is the capture of the blue whale.
Slowed the reproduction of the population is complemented by the following factors:
Over the past years, there has been an insignificant population growth. This inspires the hope that the view will be preserved. In addition to these reasons, there is one more: propagation of small southern whales. They are ahead of huge clumsy whales and eat large accumulations of plankton to when giants get to them.
Natural enemies
The main natural enemy of the blue whale is a ward. Killers prefer to hunt for sick or young whales. They gather a big flock and make the whale plunge into the water. Then they prevent him from climbing the surface of the water to gain air. When the whale weakens, the killer whales tear off the pieces. Kit completely loses all its strength and killer whales kill him.
Killed the enemy of the blue whale
But the main enemies of the blue whale are people. Whaling fishing contributed to a sharp decrease in the number of blue whales. People began to exterminate whales from the second half of the 19th century. As a result, a humpbacked whale was practically exterminated and then took up a blue whale.
The protection of the blue whale
The introduction of a blue whale in the Red Book brought the results its production stopped. Principles on whales were banned back in 1966. For forty years, there have been no cases of poaching hunting in blue whales. The gigantic dimensions of the body of the whale were good for him. Poachers need a ship of very large dimensions, which significantly complicates the organization of hunting.
The restoration of the number of individuals is negatively affected by clogging of oceans and the release of smooth networks. Many states have established strict standards for the volume and number of networks. The laws of several countries of the world provide for a decrease in the velocity of ships in places where blue whales live.
