Marine Mammal Whale is beautiful and giant warm-blooded animal. This beautiful beast have Mammary glands and it belongs to group of Baleen whales (Toothless).
Marine Mammal ( Whale )
( Marine Mammal ) Definition;
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- Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that live in the oceans and other marine ecosystems for their existence.
- They consists of animals such as whales, seals, manatees, sea otters and polar bears.
- Marine mammals are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine environments for feeding and survival.
- The largest living mammals in marine world are whales.
>Whales;
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- Whales are beautiful and giant animals, they're elegant and strong.
- Whales are warm-blooded.
- Whale is not a fish. Because fish are cold-blooded.
- Whales have Mammary glands.
- {*Mammary glands = These are the organs that, in the female mammal, produce milk for the sustenance of the new born babies.
- They have a layer of fat under the skin, it is known as blubber.
- Whales can travel at up to 20 knots/miles.
- These have a streamlined hairless body, no hindlimbs, a horizontal tail fin and a blowhole on top of the head for breathing.
- There are more than 90 living species of Whales in the world.
>Types Of Whales;
There are two types of whales.
> Toothed Whales/Odontoceti
- Toothed whales have teeth, which are used to hunt and eat other sea creatures.
- Example of Toothed whale is Killer Whale.
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> Baleen Whales/Mysticeti
- Baleen whales have baleen plates or sheets.
- These sheets sieve prey from seawater.
- Best example of Baleen Whale is Blue Whale.
>Blue Whale;
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> General Characters :
- The blue whale, also known as "Balaenoptera musculus" is a marine mammal and it belongs to group of Baleen whales .
- Blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever existed.
- Its length reaches to 29.9 meters (98 feet) and weighs 190 tons probably weigh as much as 24 elephants .
- Its body is long and slender, having various shades of grayish-blue dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath.
- Their lifespan is estimated at around 80 to 90 years.
- They become sexually mature around 5 to 15 years.
- Blue whales live in all the world's oceans but not in the Arctic ocean.
- They occasionally swim in small groups but usually alone or in pairs.
- They almost spend summers feeding in polar waters and undertake lengthy migrations towards the Equator as winter arrives/comes.
- Some researches/evidences shows that some species (whales) remain in certain areas for complete year.
- Blue whales are still an endangered species.
- These are thought to be 10,000 to 25,000 living in the world today, it is probably 4% to 11% of total population.
- In the Eastern North Pacific (~1,647), Central North Pacific (~63–133), North Atlantic (~1,000–2,000), Antarctic (~2,280), New Zealand (~718), Northern Indian Ocean (~270) and in Chile (~570-760).
- Before 1966-1967 when whaling became illegal and banned by International Whaling Commission.
- Whaling caused so much damage to their number.
- {*Whaling = Hunting and killing of whale is called whaling.
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>Subspecies of Blue Whales;
According to the, Society for Marine Mammalogy's Committee on Taxonomy, there are five currently recognized subspecies of blue whales.
- B. m. Musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific.
- B. m. Intermedia in the Southern Ocean.
- B. m. Brevicauda in the Indian and South Pacific Ocean.
- B. m. Indica in the Northern Indian Ocean.
- The last sub-specie in un-named yet/till today, it was found in Chile.
>Scientific Classification of Blue Whales;
- Domain: Eukaryota :
>(whose cells have a nucleus enclosed within a nuclear envelope.)- Kingdom: Animalia:
- Phylum: Chordata :
>(Animals that are bilaterally symmetric, have a coelom, metameric segmentation and circulatory system.- Class: Mammalia :
>( Animals having mammary glands which produce milk, have a neocortex, fur or hairs on body and three middle ear bones.- Order: Artiodactyla :
>( Cloven-hoofed mammals which bear weight equally on two of their five toes. For example: Goat, Rhino, Giraffe etc. |
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- Infraorder: Cetacea:
>( An order of marine mammals that comprises the whales, dolphins, and porpoises.- Family: Balaenopteridae/Rorquals :
>( These are the largest group of baleen whales, a family with nine extant species in two genera.- Genus: Balaenoptera:
- Species: Balaenoptera musculus:
>Size of Blue Whales;
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- Female blue whales are larger than males.
- Hydrodynamic models suggest that a blue whale could not exceed 108 feet (33 m) due to metabolic and energy constraints.
- {*Hydrodynamic models = These are an efficient, far reaching way to deal with representing coastal water elements. These numerical computational models can be utilized to mimic flows, water levels, sediment transport and saltiness .
- In Eastern North Pacific blue whales, the average length of sexually mature female blue whales is 72.1 feet ( 22.1 m ).
- In North Atlantic blue whales, the average length of sexually mature female blue whales is 92 feet (28.1 m).
- In Antarctic blue whales, the average length of sexually mature female blue whales is 83.4–86.3 feet (25.4–26.6 m).
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>Skin of Blue Whales;
- Blue Whales have smooth skin with a small amount of hairs.
- The pale bluish-grey color gives the species/whales its name.
- The skin can also look silvery grey or tan, depending on the light.
- Blue Whales have a blowhole and a 5-30 cm (2-14 inch) thick layer of blubber.
- Blue whales have 80 to 100 long grooves running along the length of their throats and chests .
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>Shocking Facts about Blue Whales;
- Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant.
- Blue whales can grow to over 30m long, that is longer than three buses.
- The blue whale can eat some 5 to 8 tons of krill per day.
- {*Krill = It is a general term used to describe about 86 species of crustaceans found in open oceans. It is a Norwegian word, meaning "small fry of fish".
- Despite their large size blue whales do not eat people.
- Their brain is so small, only about 6.92 kg (15.26 lbs), that is 0.007% of their body weight.
- A blue whale's heart is the biggest on the planet, weighing 400 pounds or lbs.
- In one research, a diving blue whale's heart slowed to 4-8 beats a minute, with an extraordinary low of just two beats, an intense measure to save/spare oxygen.
- Blue Whale urinates at least 4 times a day, it produces 1200 liters of urine per day.
- Their sounds are termed as groans, moans. Their frequency ranges from 15-40 Hz. A human can't hear their voice easily.
- Female blue whale produces over 200 liters (~50 gallon) of milk a day. The milk contains 35-50% of milk fat.
- Calves usually nurse for 7-8 months and are weaned when they reach 16 meters in length.
- {*Calf/Calves = Babies of some mammals are called calves i.e; Cow, Elephant, Whale and Giraffe etc.
- Blue whales reach to sexual maturity between the ages of 6-10 years.
- The gestation/ pregnancy period of Blue whale is 10-12 months and lactation period is 5-7 months.
- {*Lactation = The period of time that a mother secretes milk from her mammary glands and her baby.
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