Blue whale

1. Blue whale

2. Facts • The great blue Whale is the largest animal to ever to live on the planet only resembling the dinosaur, Argentinosaurus • The largest Blue whale to ever live is a female who weighed in at 177 metric tonnes. • The blue whale can reach speeds ranging 50 kilometres per hour over short bursts however a normal travelling speed is 20 kilometres. • The great blue whale once dwelled in every sea on earth until the 21st century when extreme whaling began. • For over a century the blue whale has been hunted almost to extinction due to whaling and is now classified as threatened on the endangered species list. • The whale is a sea creature who is also a mammal like humans. • Whales beaching occurs when maybe a whale is attacked or the magnetic waves it relies on are disturbed • Scientist have predicted the a blue whale can live for up to a massive 80 years.

3. Appearance • The whale uses things in its mouth called baleen plates to help it with it’s plankton feeding and filter feeding. • The blue whale typically does not have a large dorsal fin and it is mainly seen in the diving process. • Most whale dorsal fins are individual to one another in shape and size. • The blue whale is typically blue(Duh) but range from a glorious black to a light grey and are absolutely marvellous creature in my opinion. • The blue whales tail is usually 3-4 metres wide. • Some of the whales organs are considered to be some in the largest of the animal kingdom. • A blue whale tongue weighs in at 2.7 metric tonnes!!! • Whales are very graceful swimmers and are cool to look at as the water ripples above them.

4. Food source • The whales main food source includes of a large diet of krill and smaller fish like sardines. • The Blue Whale is also know to feed on a large quantity of phytoplankton and zoo plankton when he filter feeds. • The great blue whale can eat half a million calories in one mouthful(no wonder they are son large). • The species and types of food the blue whale consumes varies from sea to sea. • When eating krill a blue whale will dive to a depth of 100 metres to feed and will return to the surface to surface feed at night. • As well as having a food source blue whale are also considered as a food source to may countries in Asia it is considered a delicacy. • The whale uses things in its mouth called baleen plates to help it with it’s plankton and filter feeding • Whales are typically associated in the great sardine run where they are one of the greatest competitors.

5. Travel • The blue whale are usually known as lone rangers and migrate long distance is solitude but some have been know to travel with a partner or one of their calf's if female. • Whales are known to travel increasingly vast distances to feed, travelling at speeds of 20 to 50 kms • Whales are usually very fast and discrete characters but however sometimes while feeding they will slow to a speed of 5kms. • Very rarely a pod of blue whales have seen travelling together in as big as a pod of 50 blue whales when there is a very large area of food they have scattered themselves in that area. • Their speed can vary from a slow 3.1 miles per hour to a very speedy 31 miles per hour • The main area the blue whale has been seen is in the vast regions of Antarctica. • In the eyes of a whale they probably spend up to ½ of their day swimming

6. Whaling • The grate blue whale once graced every ocean on the earth. • The great blue whale is now on the verge of extinction due to the harsh effects of whaling. • The blue whale began its much needed protection from whaling in 1966. • In 2002 it was thought that there were 5,000 to 12,000 whales worldwide however they now believe that their population has increased. • Before whaling the largest population of blue whale was in Antarctica numbering at 239,000. • Whales are considered extremely hard to catch due to their wonderful speed and monstrous strenght so whaler targeted sperm whales and right whales mainly. • Some weapons such as large harpoons were invented only to capture and kill whales. • I disagree with whaling because what they used to be needed for is now unnecessary as we have discovered new ways to make things that whales provided but whaling can in some cases be very beneficial. • Whales used to be hunted for many things from its teeth for jewellery to its tendons for tennis racket strings.

7. Breeding • Mating of a blue whale starts in late autumn and goes until the end of winter so the baby can start its life in spring. • A female blue whale will give birth every 2 to 3 years after a preparation time of 10 to 12 months. • The whale calf is about 2.5 metric tonnes in weight and 7 metres in length. • A baby calf can suckle up to 380 to 570 litres a day of milk from its mother. • A baby blue whale can grow 8 pounds per hour. • The calf is fed and cared for 6 months and in that time the calf has doubled in length. • Blue whale breeding is very much necessary as if we want to keep researching we will need all the recourses we can get.

8. Pinboard of info *

9. ???Question time??? Why when whales are hunted that they are even not used Why when whales are hunted that they are even not used for smart purposes like food (there are many other things to eat)? When whales are extinct how do you expect to feel, that you and many other have helped wipe out one of the most helpful animals in research and products? Should whales be treated as equally as humans as they are mammals and have large brains and if it was tried they could probably contribute a lot to the planet? When whales are gone are they going to be missed or are we just going to move on? When whales are extinct how do you expect to feel,that you and many others have helped wipe out one of the most helpful animals in research and productivity? Should whales be treated as equally as humans as they are mammals and have large brains and if it was tried they could probably contribute a lot to the planet? When whales are gone are they going to be missed or are we just going to move on?

10. How can we help 1.Writing to the council your thought of the matter like overfishing, ocean bottom trawlers and by catch. Your opinion could really influence and impact the way New Zealand and many others see the matter at hand 2.Signing petitions online or forming your own and getting all your friends and family in on it, afterwards you can present the data you have collected and show it to maybe the council or other organisations like green peace. 3.Prepare a speech for your school or colleges to inform them of the issue get them all in on it as a larger group would receive more notice and attention. Link suggestions: www.Greenpeace.org

11. My thoughts In my opinion the blue whale in older times it was hunted for the everyday niceties like the oils they produce .But however whales are now not as relied on by us as humans as we have come up with new ideas to take the old products place. Whales actually have many reasons to be hunted but the main reasons for whales being hunted are for research, sustainability like farming whales and food. We will always have reasons to whale, Is whaling good or is it bad? , controversial you may answer as each side, good or bad has a strong argument. Whales themselves are a very controversial subject as one minute the are being watched and adored and the next minute they are being ruthlessly hunted. I think whaling is nessesary as it produces new info to help us make the species more sustainable

12. By SebVerryt The end