Blue Whales: Bouncing Back From The Brink of Extinction

Has there ever been any creature as magnificent as the blue whale... an animal with a truly incomparable length and weight? A deeply intelligent mammal that lives as long as we do? An animal that arguably is the largest on earth? With ears so sensitive that they can pick up whale songs from nearly 1000 miles away? Who never really sleep because they cannot lose consciousness and must be awake enough to be able to breathe - through their blowhole?

First of all, some basic facts about the blue whale all of which are quite, quite extraordinary.

Blue Whale - Aerial View - Monterey Bay California

Its length is 80 - 105 feet, which is approximately 25 to 32 meters. According to this piece it is equivalent to six elephants standing in line, three school buses, or the length of a jumbo jet. I have seen the skeleton of a blue whale and it's inconceivably large - as long as a building - see this image.

Its weight is 200 tons or thereabouts.

Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant and is big enough that 50 people can stand on it.

Its heart is approximately 5 ft long x 4 ft wide x 5 ft high and weighs 400 pounds (180 kg). Its heartbeat can be heard 2 miles away.

It lives to be 80-90 years old.

Its cries are at 188 decibels - louder than a jet engine's, which makes it the loudest animal.

Its baby is born at 3 tons. It's 25 feet long. It drinks 100 - 200 gallons (375 - 750 liters) of milk a day. So says the National Geographic.

Finally - it reaches its adult size on a diet almost entirely composed of krill - a tiny shrimp-like creature - eating about 4 tons (3,600 kg) a day. See the video.

Are we done breaking records yet?

The good news is that they are coming back.

Whale hunting in the 1900s for whale oil drove them to the brink of extinction. According to this: "Before whalers discovered the treasure trove of oil that a blue whale could provide, the numbers were generous. But with the advent of 20th century whaling fleets, nearly every last one of them was killed before receiving worldwide protection in 1967. According to WWF, from 1904 - 1967, more than 350,000 were killed in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1931, during the heyday of whaling, an astounding 29,000 blue whales were killed in a single season."

Blue whales came under the protection of the International Whaling Commission in 1966.

Good thing too. For it's incomprehensible that these infinitely gentle creatures worthy of our admiration and protection are hunted for their oil and meat. Then again, that was then and this is now. These days, we kill not as much as hunters used to back then, but via our dense traffic in their part of the world: by our large ships, commercial fishing nets, and the never-ending noise. Whales navigate by sound. Noise damages their hearing. Disorients them.

Now, in Feb 2020, we had some good news about these giant, majestic, gorgeous animals. Antarctic Blue whales have made a 'unprecedented' comeback! A bunch of scientists from BAS (British Antarctic Survey) did a survey over 23 days and found 55 blue whales near South Georgia. South Georgia was the key spot for whaling back in the early 20th century. In 1925, there were as many as 125,000 whales before powered harpoons set their sights on them.

According to the BAS scientists -

"After three years of surveys, we are thrilled to see so many whales visiting South Georgia to feed again," Dr. Jennifer Jackson, a whale ecologist at BAS, said in a statement. "This is a place where both whaling and sealing were carried out extensively. It is clear that protection from whaling has worked, with humpback whales now seen at densities similar to those a century earlier, when whaling first began at South Georgia."

That the whales are returning to what was once a perfect feeding ground for the population has been described as "truly, truly amazing" by cetacean specialist Dr. Trevor Branch from the University of Washington, Seattle. "To think that in a period of 40 or 50 years, I only had records for two sightings of blue whales around South Georgia. Since 2007, there have been maybe a couple more isolated sightings. So to go from basically nothing to 55 in one year is astonishing," he told BBC News. "It's such good news to see that they might be further rebounding and coming back to places where they were formerly extremely abundant."

It's truly great news. So, happy blue whale day! Pop open a bottle of champagne and while you're at it, blow an extra, extra large kiss to this gorgeous giant. He/she sure could use it!