ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Ready to find out everything you ever wanted to know [Boy picks a book about Blue Whales from library]

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about blue whales but were afraid to ask?

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Well, here we go…

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For starters…the blue whale is the largest of all creatures to ever live on earth. [Blue Whale in the ocean]

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Yup, even bigger than the dinosaurs.

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If there was a “Biggest Loser: Animal Edition,” this guy would have the most to lose.

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A blue whale’s tongue alone weighs about as much as an elephant, and its heart is as [Whales heart in the road and car stops]

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big as a car.

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Which explains why they’re able to love so hard.

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Even being as big as it is, a blue whale eats the smallest ocean animals, called krill.

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Too bad they don’t have opposable thumbs, or they might actually grill up some krill [Whale grilling krill on barbecue]

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on the weekends.

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The blue whale is a baleen whale…

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…which means that, instead of teeth, it has bristly plates that helps it filter out

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plankton and krill from the seawater.

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It’s basically a giant Brita pitcher. [whale opening mouth]

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Unlike some other whales, blue whales rarely swim in a pod.

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Instead, they usually swim alone or with one other partner. [A blue whale and a partner appears above]

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Same goes for their dancing habits.

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Blue whales are some of the loudest communicators in the world…

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…but because of the extremely low pitch, humans are not able to hear them without special

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technology.

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Not that we’d want to hear them normally.

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Who needs all that noise? [Man holding his ears with his hands at the beach]

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Female blue whales usually only breed once every three years, and typically only have

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one baby.

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A newborn baby blue whale is nudged to the surface by its mother to take its first breath. [Baby Blue Whale appears at surface of ocean]

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Baby blue whales drink their mother’s milk, just like other mammals.

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Unlike some mammals, however, they do not later develop a taste for Red Bull.

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Because of their size, blue whales don’t have many predators, besides some sharks and

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killer whales. [Killer whales pack hunting a blue whale]

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Many blue whales are injured by ships, though.

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Especially those steered by color blind, peg-legged captains…

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