The blue whale is arguably the most impressive creature to live or have ever lived on this planet! Be that as it may - just how big is a blue whale?
The blue whale - Balaenoptera musculus is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales called Mysticeti. At 30 metres (98 ft) in length and 180 metric tons or more in weight, it is the largest animal ever known to have existed!
Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, for over a century now they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until they were protected by the international community in 1966.
A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide, located in at least five groups. More recent research into the Pygmy subspecies suggests this may be an underestimate. Before whaling, the largest population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range 202,000 to 311,000). There remain only much smaller (around 2,000) concentrations in each of the North-East Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean groups. There are two more groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Photo care of http://www.pubarticles.com/article-blue-whales-return-for-the-first-time-in-40-years-1242720370.html
Based on an article by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_whale
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