Hobbies And Interests
Size
Blue whales can get anywhere from 85 to 100 feet long, and it is estimated that they weigh 85 to 150 tons. The weight of the blue whale is difficult to determine since its sheer size makes any specimen nearly impossible to properly weigh. Those that were killed by hunters needed to be cut up into manageable pieces to be of any use.
Color
The blue whale gets its name from its grayish-blue appearance, but it often has lighter gray mottling against a darker background. The undersides of its flippers are very light in color, almost white, while the underside of its fluke is dark. Its underbelly can also have a yellowish-green color thanks to microorganisms called diatoms that it acquires in the colder waters of the Antarctic, North Pacific and North Atlantic. Because of this yellowish-green color, early whalers gave it the nickname "sulfur bottom."
Diet
Despite its enormous size, the blue whale actually lives off very small organisms. Like other baleen whales, its diet consists of krill that is filtered out of the surrounding water by the baleen plates in its mouth. The blue whale feeds by lunging open-mouthed into groups of krill. Blue whales can consume as much as 4.5 tons of krill each day, and they occasionally feed in pairs to ensure that their prey doesn't escape.
Behavior
Blue whales live either alone or in pairs. They are migratory animals, and those that are paired with other blue whales usually migrate together. Blue whales reach sexual maturity between the ages of six to ten years, and females generally give birth once every two or three years. They communicate through reverberating, low-frequency moans that can be heard in deep waters up to 100 miles away, making them the loudest animals on the planet.