Blue Whales
Thanks for joining us!
This episode was written by Jean and voiced by Kara and T.
Episode art was created by Jean.
It was originally released in March 2024.
— Check out these picture books on the blue whale —
Big Blue Whale
Written by Nicola Davies & Illustrated by Nick Maland
Published by Candlewick Press
The Blue Whale
Written & Illustrated by Jenni Desmond
Published by Enchanted Lion Books
When Whales Exhale (Whale Watching)
by Constance Levy
There’s a horn sound
from the blow hole
and a high-speed spout
when a whale at sea
blasts the old air out.
It breathes up a geyser,
a flare of fizz,
a white cloud that shows you
where it is
in the endless waves
of the great green sea.
Oh, whales exhale
magnificently!
— Watch the blue whale in action —
Learn more and see the beautiful blue whale in the wild through this Nat Geo Wild video.
— Blue Whale Episode Summary —
What is the largest animal alive today? —
The blue whale is the largest animal on Earth, and maybe the largest ever! Larger than the extinct T-Rex dinosaur and the elephant (the largest living land animal).
A blue wale weighs about as much as 33 elephants combined and can be around 98 feet long, which is like three school buses parked end to end.
Whale’s body —
They’re called blue whales but they’re a blueish gray that looks like a light blue underwater.
A blue whale’s body is smooth, its head is flat and it has a big mouth and tiny eyes. On its sides are two flippers called pectoral flippers and on its back is a small flipper called a dorsal fin. Its tail is divided into two parts near the end called flukes.
The whale’s blow hole allows it to breathe in air. They take in air and blow it out several times to fill their lungs. Then they dive down and don’t need to resurface for 15-20 minutes.
Whale are mammals, not fish! Mammals are warm blooded, have live babies who drink their mothers’ milk, breathe air, and have hair or fur.
What do whales do? —
They always have to be breathing air, which means they always need to be swimming and surfacing for air. In order to do that, they can rest only half their brain at a time. While one side rests, the other side allows them to swim, surface for air, and eat.
Whales eat a shrimp-like animal called krill, and a lot of it – about 9,000 pounds or more each day.
The baleen in a whale’s jaw allows them to push out water while keeping the krill inside.
Whales migrate, or move to different areas at different times of year. When the water in the north gets too cold, they need to move south for warmer water. The krill don’t migrate with them, so for about 4 months, they don’t eat anything! They get nourishment from the fat stored in their blubber.
Whales also migrate to warm water to have babies. When a blue whale baby (also known as a calf) is born, it can swim right away. The calf drinks its mothers milk and migrates with her back to the north.
They can communicate with each other through incredibly loud calls. The blue whale call is the loudest sound made by an animal on our planet.
They are an endangered animal —
Sadly, blue whales are faced with some problems. They can get hurt by running into cargo ships or get caught in large fishing nets. When water is polluted, it can become unsafe for the whales and the krill.
People are trying to help! By making laws that tell ships to sail slowly in water where blue whales often are, or who punish people who pollute the ocean.