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The blue whale is the largest animal in the world - probably the largest that ever lived. Long ago, antarctic blue whales measured 30.5 m (100 ft.) and 145,280 kg (320,000 lb.), before whale hunters took the most massive individuals. The largest blue whales today measure about 26 m (85 ft.), but lenghts of 21 m (70 ft.) are more common. A blue whale's heart alone may weigh 908 kg (2,000 lb.), as much as a small car. |
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Usually found alone or in pairs, blue whales occur in all oceans, primarily along the edges of continental shelves and ice fronts.Blue whales belong to the cetacean suborder Mysticeti - the baleen whales. Whales in this suborder lack teeth. Instead, they have stiff, hairlike baleen plates that hang from their upper jaws and filter vast quantities of krill (tiny shrimplike crustaceans), consuming as much as four tons per day.Females give birth to a single calf every two or three years following a 12-month gestation. Blue whale calves measure about 7 m (23 ft.) and 2,700 to 3,600 kg (6,000-8,000 lb.). Calves are weaned at eight months, when they gain as much as 90 kg (200 lb.) a day.Widespread commercial whaling during the 19th and early 20th centuries severely depleted blue whale populations. The worldwide population is currently about 11,000, only a fraction of the more than 200,000 blue whales that once roamed the seas. |
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Blue whales are protected by several U.S. and international treaties and agencies, including the International Whaling Commission, the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, and the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973. But despite more than 50 years of protection, blue whale populations have not recovered. |
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