Saturday, October 12, 2019
The Blue Whale Essay -- essays research papers
The Blue Whale      Balaenoptera Musculus, or the blue whale, is the largest mammal in the world. This enormous mammal can grow to be 110 feet long and weigh as much as 190 tons. That's longer than two city buses and the total weight of 30 elephants. This giant is powered by a heart the size of a taxi-cab. The blue whale's of the Antarctic grow larger than those of the Northern Hemisphere. Also, the females tend to be slightly larger than the males of the same age. These mammals are bluish-gray in color, with some paler spots. Algae tends to accumulate on their bellies causing a yellowish or mustard color. It has a mottled appearance with a broad, flattened U-shaped head. Fifty to ninety throat grooves run from the mouth to the belly. Instead of teeth, blue whales have 270 to 400 black baleen plates on each side of their mouths. These plates are about forty inches long and twenty-two inches wide. The blue whale has a tiny, stubby dorsal fin set far back on its body. It has a 20 foot wide, slightly notched, triangular flukes, which is propelled by an extremely thick tail stock. The flippers on this creature are long and slender, and are about one-seventh of the whale's body length. The blue whale's most prominent feature is its exceptionally fleshy splashgaurd, which surrounds the blowholes at the front and sides. This whale spouts a single slender jet that soars forty to fifty feet high.      The blue whale has very poor eyesight, no sense of smell, and has no sense of taste. However, the blue whale does have well-developed senses of touch and hearing. This large mammal has a life span of about eighty years.      At this time there is not too much known about the blue whale's behavior. Blowing and diving patterns vary according to the whale's activity. The blue whale blows every ten to twenty seconds for a total of two to six minutes, when relaxed, and then dives. They usually stay submerged for five to twenty minutes, but can stay under for up to 40 minutes. Blue whale's usually dive to around 490 feet, but can go deeper if need be. When swimming slowly, the whale rises at a shallow angle. He blows as soon as the head begins to brake the surface. The head disappears below the surface and a long expanse of the back rolls into view. The dorsal fin normally appears some time after the... ...ws about blue whales coming from the rest of the world's oceans. California waters may now represent some of the most critical large whale habitats in the world. Bibliograpghy 1.     Boitani, Luigi and Bartoli, Stefania 1983. Simon and Schuster's Guide to Mammals. NewYork: Simon & Schuster Inc., p.237. 2.     Singing Blues for the Blues. U.S. News and World Report, July 3, 1989 vol 107, n 1; pp.8 and 9. 3.     Leatherwood, Stephen and Reeves, Randall 1983. The Seirra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. San Francisco: Seirra Club Books, pp. 47-51. 4.     Sattler, Helen Roney 1987. Whales, the Nomads of the Sea. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books; pp. 17, 28, 62-63. 5.     Carwardine, Mark 1985. Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc., pp.68-71. 6.     Lockley, Ronald M. 1979. Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises. NewYork: W.W. Norton and Co., Inc. p. 88. 7.     Baskin, Yvonne. Blue Behemoth Bounds Back. Bio Science, October 1993, vol 43, n 9; pp. 603-606.
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