The biggest animals of the planet: whales blue

The largest animals in the world's oceans, whales blue, reach truly gigantic sizes - up to 33 meters, and weigh these giants can more than 150 tons. For comparison, let's say that 50 African elephants weigh as much . For its active existence, the animal needs 1 million calories each day. The blue whale refers to baleen whales (minke whale), its typical diet is small fish, crayfish, cephalopods, plankton and krill.

Finding such a quantity of food is easy if you know where there are many crustaceans. In so-called "feeding fields", where the maximum concentration of plankton is, several whales can be seen at once, although more than 3 individuals in the group usually do not gather.

Whales blue are distributed throughout the world's oceans from the Arctic to Antarctica, with several subspecies:

• northern;
• Southern;
• dwarf;
• Indian.

The first two species are preferred by the cool waters of the ocean, while the dwarf and Indian species are found in the tropical seas. Leading a single way of life, these mammals have developed their own original way of communication. Sometimes adults form small groups, although even in such small communities they keep themselves apart.

A large blue whale does not have a sensible sense of smell, and is also virtually devoid of vision, but it manages to communicate through "singing". Calls are made by males during the mating season. This singing is more like a terrible howl, which is heard at a distance of 1600 km. Females also sometimes communicate, but only with their baby. According to scientists, whales blue analyze the received sounds, because this is the only way for them to communicate with the outside world. In addition, note the ingenuity and intelligence of these animals.

The breeding season occurs every two years. The bearing of the offspring takes 10-11 months. After the birth of the baby, the female feeds it with milk for 7-8 months, at the end of this period the weight of the young whale is more than 20 tons, and the length is more than 20 meters. At this time, a part of the baby's skin is already affected by marine parasites. The conducted studies revealed a significant number of internal and external parasites of the whale. During the stay in the fields of feeding, the adult animal is covered with diatoms, which scientists counted 31 species on the whale alone. From this, the skin of the mammal becomes yellow-green in color, numerous mollusks live there, right on the animal's body.

Over the years, blue whales have been exterminated by humans. For the extraction of whalebone, fat and meat, man hunted these giants, cutting the population 100 times. At the beginning of the 20th century, uncontrolled fishing led to the fact that now there are no more than 1500 individuals on the planet. Forecasts of scientists are disappointing: this species can not be saved from disappearing from the face of the Earth. In the North Atlantic at the moment there are no more than 100 adult whales.

Their extinction continues because of the dumping of waste into the ocean, oil leakage and active human intervention in nature. Too slow natural growth greatly inhibits the renewal of the population, and the content in artificial conditions is impossible due to the size of the mammal.