Save the Blue Whales!!!

The hunting of blue whale was outlawed by an international treaty in 1967. At the time it was thought that so few blue whales existed that their extinction was imminent. Fortunately, it was not too late. Even though the blue whale faces extinction today there are some left.

Large populations of blue whales have been found off the coast of Canada, California and Mexico. Although their population numbers are lower than one could hope, we are at the very least hopeful that their extinction will not occur.

Blue whales are warm-blooded mammals. They breathe air, give birth to live young and raise their young in much the same way we do. Blue whales are classified into the order Cetacea and the suborder mysticetes or baleen whale. That means that blue whales use baleen plates to filter their prey and do not have teeth.

The mysticetes are further broken down into 3 categories: the Balaenidae (right and pygmy whales), the Eschrichtiidae (gray whale), and the Balaenopteridae (they use gulping methods to catch their prey) of which the blue whale belongs to. The blue whale is one of the six species of gulping whales that also includes humpback, fin, sei, Bryde's and minke whales.

Blue whales are scientifically called Balaenoptera musculus. They have streamlined bodies that are almost tube shaped. This means that blue whales are fast swimmers.

First discovered in 1692 by Robert Sibbald, blue whales were mistakenly given the scientific name Sibbaldus sulphereus because their underbellies are yellowish from sulfur. The sulfur comes from a diatoms that coat the blue whales underbelly (diatoms are microscopic algae that live everywhere in the ocean).

It is believed today that there are 3 subspecies of blue whales. They include the intermedia which live in Antarctic waters and is the largest of blue whales, the musculus which live in northern waters, and the brevicauda, or pygmy blue whale, the smallest of blue whales.

Blue whales have nostrils on the top of their heads to allow for more efficient breathing. Their nose has become very streamlined to make catching prey easier. They have paddle shaped fins, bones lighter than ours, better oxygen storing ways then us as well as better ways to keep warm.

Size is unquestionable when it comes to blue whales. A female blue whale is about 3 times longer than a school bus and weighs more than 1500 people. When she blows water high into the air the average height is 30 feet. Her tail-fluke is almost as wide as the height of the water she blows into the air. A calf can nurse 40 gallons of milk per day from her gaining 9 pounds an hour!

The largest whale recorded was a 110 foot female blue whale killed sometime before 1930, although the validity of this record is questionable. The longest verifiable blue whale found was recorded somewhere between 1946 and 1947 by Japanese whalers. She was 98 feet long. Antarctic or southern blue whales are slightly larger than northern blue whales. The largest blue whale found in the north was 88 feet long.

Because blue whales are the largest animals they are also very heavy. Blue whales have reportedly weighed in at up to 190 tons. The longest blue whales captured were never weighed but scientists guess that they would have weighed in around 200 tons.

Along with being the largest and one of the heaviest animals, the blue whale is also one of the largest animals. The blue whale cries at frequencies lower than our ear can detect. Using scientific equipment, those low frequencies have been measured at up to 190 decibels (for comparison, a tv is normally listened to at around 50 decibels). There music, or cries, can be heard for thousands of miles. Exactly how blue whales make use of this music is unknown.

Blue whales were free to grow and breed in the ocean until humans developed boats that could catch them and not sink with their tremondous weight on board and weapons that could kill them. Svend Foyn, a Norwegian whaling captain, launched the first steam-powered boat designed to specifically catch whales. That was in 1864. Whaling was unrestricted then and the population of the blue whale quickly diminished. By the 1920's floating whaling factories killed whale populations in the US, Japan and Britain. The most blue whales caught during one of their seasons was between 1930 - 1931 when they killed 28,325 blue whales along with 1,000 other types of whales.

By the late 1930's whalers began to see the blue whale population decline. Still, a blue whale yields 20 tons of oil and were worth catching. They other whales whalers wanted, the fin and the humpback, only yielded 10 tons and 8 tons respectively. Quotas were set in 1946 but were way too high, further hurting the blue whale population.

Blue whale hunting continued until the mid 1960's when the International Whaling Commission, a group of whaling and non-whaling countries, prohibited blue whale hunting. However, many of the countries that initially agreed to stop hunting blue whales secretly hunted them. And the International Whaling Commission did nothing. That is until the last 10 years when non-whaling countries took control of the Commission.

In the early 1990's it was found that about 2,000 blue whales feed off the coast of California in the warmer months. Other places have not been as lucky as California. Take, for instance, Alaska. Between 1917 and 1939 whalers all but wiped out blue whale populations. In the early 1990's when surveys were done where blue whale populations were known to live off of Alaska (back in the 1920's that is), not a single blue whale was found.

It is possible that the blue whales who were greatly hunted off of Alaska may not have had large enough numbers to recover. Or they may have moved on to more "safer" waters, if such a place does exist.

Blue whales are found in every ocean on earth. During cold winter months they migrate south. When the weather warms again, they head back north. Because whales gather during summer months and spread farther apart during winter months, most hunting is done in the summer. That is also when most observations are made because there are many blue whales to study at one time. Although not all blue whales migrate, most do.

The diet we know blue whales have is also mainly based on their summer habits. Blue whales feed mainly on krill, a tiny plankton that is between 1 to 3 inches long. Because they need high amounts of energy to sustain their daily activities, blue whales must intake about 4 tons of krill a day. That translates into about 40 million krill. They occasionally eat small red crabs and on rare occasions, fish. Blue whales feed at different depths. Normally, they feed around several hundred feet. But they can dive deeper if krill is there. They can hold their breathe for up to 15 minutes, so feeding at large depths can be intense. Female blue whales must feed as much as they can in order to make reserves for reproduction.

It is not known how the blue whale reproduces. They do mate during winter in warm waters, but little else is known.

The female becomes sexually mature when she is about 5 years old and 80 feet long. The calf is conceived during the winter months in warm waters and grows inside the mother for 1 year. Then mother then gives birth to the calf in the warm waters he was conceived in. The calf, at birth, weighs about 3 tons and is about 20 feet long. The mother then nurses her calf with her milk which is around 50% fat. Daily, the calf grows about 1.5 inches and gains 200 pounds. The pair then migrate back into colder waters. When the calf is about 7 months it will begin to eat krill and no longer use it's mothers milk. The mother blue whale has lot about 50 tons by this time, or one-third of her body weight. She now eats enough to regain her original body weight and start the process all over again in another 5 months.

Other than the 7 months a mother and calf spend together, blue whales live a solitary existence. Occasionally they will feed in large groups together. More often they feed alone or in pairs consisting of 1 male and 1 female.

Even though the blue whale is the largest of animals, they still must be weary of prey. Their most feared attacker is the killer whale. A blue whale can swim as fast as 20 knots, although they average about 11 knots. A killer whale can swim as fast as the blue whale can. Killer whales will attack in a pack against a single blue whale. Normally the young or sick blue whales are targeted. Many blue whales are found with scars in the shape of killer whale teeth so it appears that not all attacks are fatal.

The killer whale might have one feared enemy, but it is a host to many animals. Many blue whales have barnacles attached to their fins and fluke. Sucker-fish remain on the blue whale eating damaged skin from the blue whale and any other injured animal the blue whale may encounter.

Lifespan of blue whales is hard to figure. The best estimates guess they live for more than 100 years. Photographs will provide a better estimate for their lifespan in the future.

In the 1980's long term research programs were started. With these, researchers hope to know the blue whales survival rate, their interactions with other ocean dwellers, how they find prey, long range movements and their population trends. Genetic studies are also being conducted to check for any relationship structure.

Today, the greatest threat to whales is once again man, although not by direct hunting. Whales risk being entangled in fishing lines and nets. Blue whales are also exposed to high rates of contamination from industrial and crop chemicals that help in their destruction. These chemicals also kill their prey which also reduces whale populations.

"Although our world has been spared from the loss of the largest species ever to have lived, other species and entire habitats are disappearing every day. 'Save the whales' may be a more popular slogan than 'save the krill' or 'save the ocean', but they are inexorably linked. To many, whales inspire a sense of awe and excitement, but to protect them we must take a broader view. The only way we can ensure their survival is to think of them as symbols for the entire ecosystem, something on which both whales and ultimately ourselves are dependent."