The largest thing to ever swim,
Or walk, or run, or wag a tail,
Is the hugest sea mammal,
The plump and friendly,
Big blue whale…
Larger than an elephant,
And all the grandest dinosaurs,
Huger than a quick hippo,
Bigger than a bus that tours!
Swimming, playing happily,
Eating plankton from the sea,
Swimming, swimming,
All day long,
Some are 98-feet long!
Whale songs!
Low-pitched sounds,
Babies weigh,
6,000 pounds!
Even when they’re born,
They’re large,
The milk calves drink,
Could fill a barge!
Although the largest thing alive,
Still need your help to survive…
(blue whales are on the endangered species list)
Blue Whales are the largest animals living on Earth, and are probably the largest animals to have ever lived.
They can be up to 100 feet (30 meters) in length, and weigh more than 150 tons (as a reference, that’s around the weight of 15 empty 20,000 pound school buses!).
A Blue Whale’s heart is the largest of any animal. It weighs over 1,000 pounds (450 kg).
Blue Whales eat mostly krill and get it by using their baleen to filter it from the water. They live in all of the oceans of Earth, and often travel alone or in pairs.
Blue Whale calves are born weighing nearly 6,000 pounds (2700 kg) and each day, they can drink up to 100 gallons (379 liters) of their mother’s milk, and gain up to 200 pounds.
Blue Whales were hunted to near extinction and are now on the endangered species list.