​

It comes as no surprise that whales are the largest creatures on this planet. However, even in the whale community, there is quite a range in terms of size.

Today, we're going to learn more about the biggest whale in the world while exploring some unique facts that will absolutely BLOW your mind.

Let's dive in, shall we?

​

What Is The Biggest Whale In The World?

To put this into perspective, they are the same length as a professional basketball court, or two school buses lined up end to end.

Largest Blue Whale Ever Recorded

The longest blue whale record goes to a female discovered in the South Atlantic at the South Georgia whaling station back in 1909. This whale measured 110 feet and 17 inches feet in length.

However, she was not the heaviest whale ever recorded. That record goes to another female found in the Southern Ocean of Antarctica back in 1947, who weighed 418,878 pounds.

To put this in perspective, she weighed the same as about 30 standard elephants or 2,500 human adults.

FUN FACT: Beyond these record-breaking feats, blue whales also have the largest hearts, heads, and tongues on the planet! In fact, an entire professional NFL team could stand atop a blue whale's tongue with room to spare.

Blue Whale Heart Size

A fully-grown blue whale's heart weighs 1,000 pounds on average. That is the same as a concert grand piano! Compared to the human heart, which measures about 0.77 pounds (or the equivalent to a can of chicken soup) the size of whale hearts make ours look pretty minuscule.

What's even more impressive is that most adult men could fit inside the heart of a blue whale.

If all of that wasn't astonishing enough, a blue whale's heart will only beat around 8-10 times per minute. So each minute, a blue whale's heart can pump more than 1,160 gallons of blood through its body. Human hearts pump anywhere from 60 to 80 times per minute, pumping one gallon of blood through the body.

Largest Whale Brain Size

goes to the sperm whale. A fully-grown sperm whale has a brain that is about 500 in3, more than five times the size of a human brain, which is 80 in3. The brain of a sperm whale weighs about 20 pounds, more than six times the weight of a human's brain.

Brain size makes a lot more sense when you look at it from an evolutionary perspective. For about 200,000 years, humans have had the same size brains that we have right now. The sperm whale, on the other hand, has had the same size brain for about 55 million years, meaning not a whole lot of brain size evolution has taken place.

What's even more interesting is that the size of a sperm whale's head makes up about one-third of its entire body. So most of what you will find inside the head is not brain tissue but a special spermaceti organ used for echolocation. This massive spermaceti organ is filled with fine, yellowish oil, which was once seen as a luxury in ancient whaling culture.

Blue Whale Migration Map

Blue whales migrate through the oceans seasonally, wherein they will move between their winter feeding grounds and their summer feeding grounds. However, we now have new evidence that suggests certain blue whales will never migrate at all.

In terms of movement and distribution data, there are many variables to consider. Even now, we don't have completely accurate information on migratory routes. Most often, whales migrate depending on the availability of food.

Generally, blue whales in the Northern Hemisphere venture to Arctic waters during the spring and summer and back to the North Atlantic during the wintertime. However, blue whales living in the Southern Hemisphere will spend their springs and summers near Antarctica.

FUN FACT: The blue whale is the loudest animal on Earth, some of its calls being louder than a standard jet engine.

FAQ

What Do Blue Whales Eat?

Though they are the largest animals on Earth, these whales eat some of the ocean's smaller crustaceans.

A blue whale will lunge its body through large krill swarms with their mouths open to take in as much as possible. Because they are filter feeders, they must filter out the water they take in before swallowing.

The blue whale's throat is a pleated, expandable structure, allowing it to gulp up water equal to its body weight. It will then use its monstrous tongue to push the water out through its baleen plates, which act like large strainers.

With all of that said, blue whales feed on fish and other tiny crustaceans as well.

FUN FACT: A blue whale can eat up to four tons of krill each day.

How Long Do Blue Whales Live?

Blue whales have an average lifespan of anywhere from 70-90 years. While this species takes the cake as the largest animal in the world, it is by no means the longest living. The bowhead whale takes the prize as the longest-living cetacean species, and many scientists believe they can live longer than 200 years.

How Fast Does A Blue Whale Swim?

Though these creatures are massive, they move as slow as snails. Blue whales often move at about 5mph, especially when traveling or feeding. However, they can swim up to 20mph in short bursts if they need to. They will often only swim this fast if they need to escape predators.

How Many Babies Does A Blue Whale Have?

Although observing the birth of blue whales has proven quite difficult for researchers, we do know that blue whale births take place from December through March in the warmer waters. Warmer waters are great for giving birth as mothers don't have to use as much energy to retain warmth. Baby whales quickly develop thick layers of blubber that they use as insulation for migrating towards the colder waters in the spring.

Blue Whale Singing - Why Do They Do It?

Blue whales use low-frequency trills and bellows to "sing". These deep vocalizations that we call singing are performed all day during migration as they swim along the coast, and only at night when they're not migrating, but instead feeding in a single area. Researchers are interested in using these patterns to prevent ship strikes. If the ships know where the whales are, they could avoid hitting them.

Although they've been studied extensively, the meaning of these songs remains unknown. One hypothesis is that it could be a clue to other whales as to whether or not there is still food available, or if they should begin to migrate. They usually live alone or in pairs, and very rarely they live in small groups, but their songs can be heard for vast distances allowing for communication between them.

Scientists also believe that these songs are a form of sonar-navigation, cluing the whales in to the depths of the ocean.

Beyond verbal communication, many whales use fin and tail slaps to communicate. These massive sounds can be heard hundreds of meters below the water's surface. Whales will often use these to show dominance and to ward off unwanted attention from potential mates.

Final Thoughts - Saving the World's Largest Whale

Unfortunately, commercial whaling has put the blue whale on the "critically endangered" list. Even though the International Whaling Commission gave these creatures legal protection in the 1960s, they continued being hunted until 1972.

In 1926, the number of Antarctic blue whales was around 125,000. Today, the population has declined to around 3,000.

It's up to us to put our greatest efforts into preventing these whales from ship strikes, and being hunted by humans so that we can save the largest animal on the planet. 

​

Not quite ready to leave?  There's plenty more to enjoy!  Head over to one of our other interesting articles: