I was reading about a Gray Whale that had washed up on a Vancouver Island beach. The article also mentioned UBC recently acquiring a Blue Whale skeleton after one of these behemoths washed up on a beach in PEI. I wanted to know the difference in sizes between the two types of whales and found this diagram, which showed it pretty well. They're big!
For me, it's hard to really visualise how large these creatures can be. I've seen Killer Whales and Belugas up close-ish, but these are not even remotely the largest of the bunch.
How such enormous animals feed themselves on such tiny things (like krill) is amazing to me.
Pretty big, eh? Blue whales are as big as some of the ocean dwelling dinosaurs!
According to the Vancouver Aquarium, killer whales used to be terribly feared as ferocious monsters of the deep. 25 years of research have taught us a lot about these beautiful, misunderstood creatures. It's actually a pretty cool story about how the Vancouver Aquarium first started studying Killer Whales, but I can't find the tale online (in the five seconds I just spent) and am pretty sure I read it in a book I bought at the Aquarium, so I'll have to chat about that later.
CBC ARTICLE: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/07/bc-grey-whale-beached-starvation.html
FIRST IMAGE: http://www.orienthq.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/305d.gif
SECOND IMAGE: http://www.orienthq.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/305d.gif
VANCOUVER AQUARIUM: http://www.vanaqua.org/
Whales. Awesome!
y'know, when you read about how large they are, you think you "get it". Seeing that diagram with the bus... wow. NOW I get it.
ReplyDeleteExactly! And that picture isn't even exactly to scale! The bus is 40 ft and the Blue Whale is 100 ft = 2.5 buses!
ReplyDeleteThe picture below, of the Blue Whale above the Brontosaurus (assuming), elephant and man really put it into perspective for me!
Now... what IS the proper plural for bus? And Narwhals, if they're real, are unicorns THAT unlikely?