The Blue Whale

The blue whale is the largest living thing on Earth. In some specimens have been found 33 meters long and weights 190 tons, with sizes slightly higher in females than in males. These large fish observed in the 30's, have not survived the manhunt. Today the surviving copies reach smaller sizes, about 25 meters.

The subspecies can be found in the Canary Islands and mainland is the Balaenoptera musculus musculus. It's easy to confuse with another bath, fin, similar in size and morphology, but skin color dark gray or black.

Her belly often has a grayish or yellowish due to the presence of diatoms (algae) that attach to it. Its top and sides vary in color from blue to bluish gray. His head is very elongated and thin (approximately one third of the total length of the animal), over at the top, with the presence of longitudinal stripes on the throat. It is the longest baleen baleen in his mouth (50 cm wide by 100 long). Having no teeth is a Baleen. The beards hanging from the upper jaw and are used to filter water crustaceans.

At the top of the head have two holes, called blowers, which allow them to breathe. Often air and water expelled by the blowers causing vaporized water column up to 9 feet high.

The Asturian is part of a wide familiade ponies that are kept in the so-called Atlantic Arc, the oceanic coastal strip running from Portugal to Scotland and comprising Spain, France, England, Wales and Ireland. In total there reconocidasnueve similar breeds: Garrano, Asturcón, Pottok, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Welsh, Connemara, Shetland and Highland, many of which have spread throughout the world, given its characteristics.

The identification of the specimens is often done by cataloging of photographs of their dorsal fins, which are proportionately small and different in each individual.

Your heart rate in times of stress is only 18 to 20 beats per minute, compared with 120 normal humans in similar circumstances. In the wider segments of the arteries of a blue whale a tall person could stand (1.80 m diameter).

Blue whales live to 90 years in good condition. However, due to hunting the average age is 25 years.

Habitat

Can be found in its various subspecies, in the oceans around the planet. In the vicinity of Spain can be found in the Cantabrian Sea and especially in the Canary Islands (west and southwest of the island of Tenerife) during the winter. In the summer they migrate to Arctic waters.

The estimated population in the Atlantic is just 400 individuals.

Reproduction

Blue whales are sexually mature at 5 years. The mating season occurs in the northern hemisphere autumn and winter.

The links are short and are preceded by complex courtship rituals, among them not lack competition between males, which is not mortal. The decision of the female seems to be based on both these rituals as the ability in the male song.

The gestation period is between 10 and 11 months, after which a calf is born between 6 and 7 feet long and 3 tons of weight. The calf breast for seven months. The female becomes sexually active again until two or three years after the last delivery.

Food and customs

The food of blue whales is krill (crustacean). Blue whales can consume three tons (3,000 kg) of shellfish per day (between 2 and 4% of body weight). They may also eat small fish (sardines, anchovies and herring), depending on your geographic location and time of year.

Blue whales can move at a speed exceeding 30 km / h, but usually move at speeds below 10 km / h. Sometimes younger individuals perform spectacular jumps out of water.

For thirty minutes can dive to depths of 150 meters, but usually feed at depths of 100 meters.

Blue whales are usually found as solitary individuals conmunmente or in pairs. They are grouped into location during the mating season. Females can form groups during breeding. Joint groups were observed in female blue whales and fin whales to carry out this function.

Much research has been on the songs of whales, but little is known so far for sure. So far it seems clear that the whales use their songs as a means of communication and that its capacity is yet to be discovered. According to some studies, a large whale songs (eg the blue whale) may be heard by other individuals at a distance of 4,000 km with what the whales would have the oldest and largest communications network on Earth.

Clearly this is not a human-like spoken language, but it is clear that this is a language of some sort. Several species of cetaceans have "signatures" that identify an individual and that they used to be presented to other peers and answer their calls, so the human name.

In the case of the blue whale songs are extremely slow and monotonous.

In 2000, reports revealed the U.S. Navy in recognizing the sounds played through its fleet of nuclear submarines somewhere coincide with the ranges of frequencies used by whales, and that this coincidence could be related with whale strandings worldwide.

This and other articles can be found at Fauna.