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-- Blue Whale

bluewhale

Estimated Population:1,300-2,000, endangered

Ways to identify this species: baleen whale, grayish blue skin with white spots, small dorsal fin set farther back

Biology

Migratory, blue whales spend winters in temperate and subtropical areas and travel north to polar regions for summer. They usually travel alone or in groups of 2-4.

As largest animal ever known to have lived on earth, they average 70-80 feet in length and can weigh up to 150 tons. Females are larger than males.

They can move at speeds of up to 30 mph and dive as deep as 1,640 feet, lasting ten to twenty minutes underwater.

Blue whales use baleen plates to strain food, usually krill, from the water.

Threats

Considered extremely valuable due to their large size, blue whales were extensively hunted by commercial whalers. The advent of industrial whaling using faster boats and harpoon guns allowed for increased hunting on blue whales and by the 1960s the species was nearly extinct.

Despite decades of protection, blue whale populations have yet to recover from the impacts of commercial whaling. They now face new threats such as pollution and entanglement in fishing gear.

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