Nature
PUBLISHED
Gargantuan oceanic treasures, blue whales are a fascinating species. Thought to be the largest creature to have inhabited our planet, their measurements are pretty mind-blowing. Reaching up to 30 meters (100 feet) in length, their tongues can weigh as much as an elephant, and check out how big the hearts of these gentle giants can be.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.How do they get so massive? By eating a lot, of course. Sometimes more than 3,500 kilograms (7,700 pounds) of food daily in the form of tiny critters called krill. It’s a pretty big task to gobble up so much food, but they achieve it by performing deep dives, a behaviour known as “lunge feeding.” And if you’re picturing in your mind what that might look like, imagine no more! Here is some jaw-droppingly awesome footage, brought to you by the Goldbogen lab at Hopkins Marine Station, which almost makes you feel as though you’re sitting on the animal’s back.
The video was made possible by attaching a camera to the back of a blue whale. But don’t worry – they used suction-cup cameras so not to hurt the animal.
And if that has left you itching for more check out the Big Blue Live, which begins Monday 31 August on PBS and the BBC, showcasing more incredible footage of the marine world in all its glory.
[Via the BBC]
