The blue whale is the biggest animal that has ever lived-and everything about this mammal is gigantic. Measuring up to 100 feet, this gentle giant is about as long as three train cars and weighs about four times more than the heaviest known dinosaur did. This massive creature's tongue is so big that an elephant could stand on it-and its heart is the size of a small car!
Filter Feeder: Instead of teeth, a blue whale has up to 400 baleen plates that hang from its upper jaw. These plates are made of keratin-just like human fingernails-and act as a strainer to catch millions of tiny shrimp-like creatures called krill.
Thar She Blows!: Baleen whales have two blowholes, unlike toothed whales, which have only one. When a blue whale resurfaces after a dive, it blows stale air and water 30 feet into the sky. This can get pretty loud: A blue whale blow can often be heard several miles away.
Supersize Me[]
Blue whales usually swim about 15 mph, but can reach speeds of 30 mph.
Blue whales spend the spring and summer feeding on krill in rich polar hunting grounds. It seems strange that the world's largest animal would eat one of the smallest-the blue whale is thousands of times bigger than its favorite meal! But even though the food is small, the portions aren't. Krill is so abundant that a blue whale can eat up to 40 million krill (9,000 pounds) per day.
Sound Off: It's no surprise that the biggest animal on Earth makes the loudest sound of any creature. A blue whale's grunts and moans can reach over 180 decibels. That's 60 decibels louder than the roar of a jet engine.
Oh Baby!: In the winter, blue whales migrate to tropical waters to mate and give birth. A newborn calf is about 23 feet long and weighs more than 4,000 pounds. While it's nursing, a baby blue whale will gain about 200 pounds a day!
Big Gulp[]
While feeding, a blue whale takes in up to 50 tons of water at one time. Without the 50-70 pleats that run from its lower jaw to the middle of its body, the whale couldn't hold such a huge mouthful-the pleats expand to increase the whale's throat size. The great beast then uses its giant tongue to force the water out of its mouth while its baleen keeps the krill from escaping.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The blue whale is the largest living creature featured in the cards, as well as in general. In terms of length, the Giant Siphonophore and the tentacles of the Lion's Mane Jellyfish and Portuguese Man-O-War beat it out technically, and the extinct Seismosaurus and Argentinosaurus also beat it out in size as well.
- The blue whale is mentioned on the Fin Whale's knowledge card for the reasons above.
- The blue whale is also the heaviest featured creature in Monsters of the Deep, as well as the series as a whole (excluding hypothetical weights of any Monsters of the Mind), at 300,000 pounds. This puts it at 65,000 pounds heavier than the next heaviest creature, the Right Whale.
- The main heading on the back, "Supersize Me", is a reference to a 2004 documentary by the same name.
- Blue Whales are the heaviest animals in Earth's history.
- The blue whale is mentioned on two cards:
- As mentioned above, it's brought up on the fin whale's card due to being the only living creature bigger than said whale.
- The Killer Whale knowledge card mentions them eating baby blue whales.
- The blue whale is featured on several Monster Mania cards:
- It is first featured in Big & Small on Monster Mania 83.
- It is then featured in Animal All-Stars on Monster Mania 105.