Interesting Facts About Blue Whale And Total Scientific Classification Of It.
Interesting Facts About Blue Whale And Total Scientific Classification Of It.
Common Name :- Blue whale (English)
Rorqual bleu (French)
Neelee vhel (Hindi)
Ballena azul (Spanish)
Siniy kit (Russian)
Kingdom :- Animalia
Scientific name :- Balaenoptera musculus
Type :- Mammal
Diet :- Carnivore
Size :- 82 to 105 feet
Weight :- 50,000 to 150,000 kg
Lifespan :- 80 to 90 years
The scientific classification of Blue whale:-
Kingdom :- Animalia
Subkingdom :- Eumetazoa
Clade :- Bilateria
Superphylum :- Deuterostomia
Phylum :- Chardata
Subphylum :- Vertebrata
Infraphylum :- Gnathostostomata
Superclass :- Tetrapoda
Class :- Mammalia
Clade :- Holotheria
Clade :- Trechnotheria
Clade :- Cladotheria
Clade :- Zatheria
Clade :- Tribosphenida
Subclass :- Theria
Clade :- Utheria
Infraclass :- Placentalia
Magnorder :- Boreoeutheria
Clade :- Laurasiatheria
Clade :- Scrotifera
Clade :- Ferungulata
Clade :- Ungulata
Order :- Artiodactyla
Clade :- Artiofabula
Clade :- Cetruminantia
Clade :- Cetancodontamorpha
Suborder :- Whippomorpha
Infraorder :- Cetacea
Parvorder :- Mysticeti
Superfamily :- Balaenopteroidea
Family :- Balaenopteridae
Genus :- Balaenoptera
Species :- B. musculus
This species is divided into 5 subspecies. These are :-
(1) Balaenoptera musculus musculus, Linnaeus, 1758 (These blue whales are found in the North Atlantic & North Pacific Ocean)
(2) Balaenoptera musculus intermedia, Burmeister, 1871 (These blue whales are found in the Southern Ocean)
(3) Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda, Ichihara, 1966 (These blue whales are found in the Indian Ocean & South Pacific Ocean)
(4) Balaenoptera musculus indica, Blyth, 1859 (These blue whales are found in the Northern Indian Ocean)
(5) Balaenoptera musculus (unnamed subspecies) (These blue whales are found in Chilean waters)
Blue whale is a marine mammal, because it lives in the ocean and feeds milk to its calf (baby blue whale) after giving birth. The Blue Whale is scientifically known as "Balaenoptera musculus" and goes under the family of Balaenopteridae. It has 5 known subspecies, which are:- B. m. musculus, B. m. intermedia, B. m. brevicauda, B. m. indica & B. m. (unnamed subspecies).
Size of Blue whale :-
The Blue Whale is the largest known creature in the world. They are also larger than dinosaurs. A blue whale can grow from 82 to 105 feet and the average weight of an adult blue whale is 50,000 to 150,000 kg. When people talk about the largeness of the blue whale, some people say that some blue whales are larger than 33 meters but according to the "Hydrodynamic" model, blue whales can't grow larger than 33 metres (108ft) because of metabolism and energy constraints. The longest scientifically measured individual blue whale from the IWC (International Whaling Commission) database was 29.9m (98ft) in length and weighed 173 tonnes.
The Blue Whale's tongue weighs as much as an elephant and its heart is as large as the size of a car, weighing about 590kg. But a blue whale's brain weighs about 6.92kg, which is about 0.007% of its total body.
Appearance of Blue whale :-
Blue whales appear blue under water. They have long, slender mottled blue-gray bodies. Their dorsal side appears grayish-blue with a beautiful mottling pattern of unique pigmentation, while their ventral side appears yellowish, and their heads are flat and they are long in shape.
Breeding of Blue whale :-
The Blue Whale gives birth to its baby in the starting of winter. A newborn calf weighs about 3 tons and is about 25 feet long. After birth, a baby blue whale drinks 400 liters of milk per day and it also gains 90 kilograms of weight per day. The length of a calf becomes double after 6 months, and between 5 and 15 years it becomes sexually mature.
Speed of Blue whale :-
The speed of a blue whale is very fast. One blue whale can reach speeds of 50km/h but normally they move at speeds of 20km/h, and around 5km/h when they feed their baby.
Some World Records of Blue Whale :-
They are the largest, most weighty tongue-bearing and biggest-hearted animals in the world. Many believe that the blue whale is the loudest animal in the world, but in real terms, the "Sperm whale" (its sound is louder than a jet sound and is about 230dB) is the loudest animal in the world, and the blue whale is in the second position (sound volume is about 188dB). Because of their loud sound, blue whales can hear each other up to 1,000 miles away. It is also said that the blue whale is the biggest-brained animal but in fact, the sperm whale is the biggest-brained animal in the world. The brain of a sperm whale is about 7.8kg while the brain of a blue whale is about 6.92kg.
Although the blue whale is a loud sound creator, it produces low frequency sounds between 10Hz and 40Hz, making them also the lowest sound frequency creator in the world. (According to "Hearing range wikipedia", whales can hear and communicate at very low sound frequency, which is lower than the frequency of elephants. And according to the "Whale vocalization wikipedia", the blue whale creates the lowest sound frequency among other whales.). The hearing range of a blue whale is 7Hz to 22kHz. A human can hear a sound frequency of 20Hz to 20kHz. Therefore, we can't hear the sound of blue whales. But sometimes people can hear the "whale song", created by the male blue whale, when it comes within the range of human auditory frequency. A blue whale can hear infrasonic sound, which is below 20Hz, so they can hear the sound produce from earthquakes, volcanoes & thunder.
Protection & Killing :-
Many blue whales and other whales were killed by humans, so an organization was created on 2 December 1946 to protect them, called the IWC (International Whaling Commission). According to the IWC, the global blue whale population is about 10,000 to 25,000. The IWC also says that between 1868 and 1978, 382,595 blue whales were caught. And around 1931, more than 29,000 blue whales were killed. Inspite of the creation of the IWC organization, many blue whales are affected and killed due to climate change, hunting, ship strike, ocean noise and pollution.
Some other Biological Information about Blue whale :-
Blue whales are mainly carnivorous and can eat up to 4 to 8 tons of krill per day. They also get about 480,000 kilocalories of energy from a mouth full of krill.
A blue whale has a heart rate of 25–37 beats per minute. Blue whales are marine mammals, they breathe air into their lungs, just like other mammals (e.g :- human, tiger, dog, etc). They do not have any gills, so they can't breathe underwater like other fish. They take atmospheric oxygen directly to their breath and they breathe through nostrils, called the blowhole, which are located on the top of their head. Once breathed in, a blue whale can hold its breath for 60 minutes to 90 minutes, which is a amezing fact.
The blue whale's sleeping system is similar to other whales. Mostly they sleep to rest at night and sometimes in the daytime. They sleep vertically or horizontally in water. According to some biologists, they sleep with one eye open and one half of their brain awake. Therefore, in their sleeping mode, they can control their breath, make sure to avoid predators, maintain social contact and continue swimming.
Blue whales live for many years like humans and the average lifespan of a blue whale is about 80 to 90 years.
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