APPEARANCE The belly is a yellow-green in colour due to microscopic diatoms that are picked up while swimming. The baleen filter out food from the water.

It is estimated that an individual blue whale must consume 40 000 000 krill per day to meet its energy requirements. "Blue Whale" Funk & Wagnall's Wildlife Encyclopedia, vol 2, pg 244-245, BPC Pub Ltd NY 1974 Heart rates during dives reached a minimum of 2 beats per minute, well below the predicted resting heart rate of 15 beats per minute, and surged to 2.5 times the minimum heart rate during lunge feeding. The only natural enemy for the blue whales are killer whales. They then pass into the esophagus, where they are pushed toward the expandable stomach. by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system. From 1930-31 alone, 30 000 southern blue whales were slaughtered. Blue whales are also the world's heaviest animals, averaging at 110 tons (99 800 kg), the equivalent of 30 elephants. A study finds extreme ranges of heart rates in blue whales during diving, feeding, and surfacing. The flippers are lighter than the body, and the underside of the are flukes darker. From 1930-31 alone, 30 000 southern blue whales were slaughtered. 4. www.seaworld.org/animal_bytes/bluewhaleab.html Blue whales are highly communicative, and are perhaps the loudest of all the animals. 7. www.acsonline.org/factpack/bluewhl.htm The water is then strained through 260-400 fringed plates known as baleen (whalebone). Blue Whales have a closed circulatory system, with a 4-chamber heart to pump blood into its body (rather than a 2-chamber one, which partly distinguishes it from fish).

Indeed, it is even the largest of all the mammals — it is the largest known animal (although not the longest - giant squid have been found over 200 ft long including tentacles.)!

The blue whale has a long, streamlined body that tapers off to form a tail, which ends with the tail flukes. The baleen filter out food from the water.
Large volumes of seawater, and hopefully krill, pour into the enlarged cavity; when the mouth closes, the pleats constrict and all the water is forced through the long bristles on the baleen and out the mouth. Blue whales are also the world's heaviest animals, averaging at 110 tons (99 800 kg), the equivalent of 30 elephants. Roughly 14 000 lb (6400 kg) of blood is pumped from the heart to the rest of the body. EurekAlert! Twins are rare, constituting only 1% of total births. Blue whales have a life span of 35-50 years.
It can dive to depths of 1650 ft (495 m). The tail flukes are triangular and are 25 ft (7.6 m) wide. However, there are still only 10 000 blue whales alive today. The tail flukes are triangular and are 25 ft (7.6 m) wide. Roughly 14 000 lb (6400 kg) of blood is pumped from the heart to the rest of the body. According to the authors, the results show how the circulatory system of whales adapts to accommodate diving and feeding. The blue whale, due to its massive size, has a massive circulatory system. One of the most striking differences between nervous systems is their size (measured as weight or volume) – the brain of a blue whale weighs up to 9 kg while that of a locust weighs less than a gram (Figure 5). The calf is 25 ft (7.6 m) long at birth, and doubles its length by 7 months. They rarely travel as far north as the Chukchi Sea, and are almost never seem in the Bering Sea. It is estimated that an individual blue whale must consume 40 000 000 krill per day to meet its energy requirements. Back HABITAT RELATIVES