Blue Whales: Larger than Life

Imagine a creature so tiny it can freely climb through your arteries. Now imagine how that creature would feel standing beside you—a living, breathing human over 2500 times its own weight. You don’t have to guest star on an episode of The Magic School Bus to experience this feeling for yourself—just dive into the ocean and find the nearest blue whale.

Larger than Life

And back to those arteries—a person could, theoretically, crawl through a blue whale’s aorta. Its heart only beats once every ten seconds, and when it does, it’s strong enough to detect from two miles away. But that’s nothing compared to its famous song, which can travel over 700 miles through the ocean.


Our Ocean's Gentle Giants

Despite their size, blue whales are graceful, gentle creatures that spend their time filter feeding through the water. Blue whales feed by diving up to 700 feet below the surface, gulping water and krill into its expandable throat pouch. They use their massive tongue to force the water out through filtering plates called the baleen before polishing off the remaining mouthful of krill.
Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to find one of these gentle giants today. Before the invention of the harpoon gun, whalers rarely wasted their time pursuing such a formidable opponent. But once technology caught up to the whaling community’s ambitions, populations began dropping dramatically and today blue whales are listed as endangered.

The Future of Blue Whales

While most countries now observe the ban on hunting blue whales, they still face threats like ship strikes, increased human noise interfering with their own sonar-like navigation, ocean trash, and habitat degradation. We must work now to preserve these incredible creatures before their powerful heartbeat stops forever.
Source: Ocean Conservancy