Interesting Facts About Whales: Discover These Largest Mammals
Whales are amazing and the largest creatures on our planet. Their size is truly impressive with only a tongue weighing almost like an elephant. These giants have suffered enormously from human activity while still remaining poorly known. You may be surprised to know that the size of whales is not the most striking thing about them. All this information is checked and true. Do you know, for example, the origins of these mammals? To answer these questions, we've put together the most interesting, amazing and sometimes weird facts about whales that are worth reading. Share your discoveries with others!
Top 10 Amazing Facts
(Curious? Click on any element to discover more!)
The largest predator on the planet is the sperm whale. These massive marine creatures can grow up to 18 meters in length and weigh up to 80 tons. An enraged sperm whale can even sink a whaling ship.
The blue whale is the largest animal to ever live on Earth. It reaches 33 meters in length and can exceed 150 tons in weight.
The blue whale has the largest heart ever — the adult heart weighs about one ton. Their heart rates range from 5 to 10 bpm with a maximum of 37 bpm.
Whales do not spout water — they just exhale air when coming up to the surface. This air is saturated with water vapor, and when meeting the outside cooler temperature, it forms a column that looks like a fountain.
The blue whale's tongue alone weighs up to four tons. For you to compare: this is the weight of an Asian elephant.
Normally, the
blue whale spends 94% of its time underwater and dives to a depth of 100–200 meters.
In case of danger, the blue whale is able to dive up to 500 meters deep!
Whales are free from caisson disease. Unlike scuba divers, whales do not need to breathe underwater. Whales conserve the fixed oxygen mainly in the blood and muscles. When diving, the pressure compresses their lungs and squeezes the air into the upper respiratory passages, thus almost stopping the gas exchange.
Blue whales use low-frequency sounds to communicate with each other at a distance of up to 1600 km!
The blue whale has a very huge lower jaw. A mouth full of water and food sometimes may hinder jaw movements due to the heavy load. Then the whale turns over on its back, and the mouth gets shut under gravity.
Having such a huge size, the blue whale needs to eat lots and lots of food. The blue whale consumes up to 4 tons of krill a day.
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