Years ago, I was out with friends on a boat a few miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. We were there to see blue whales. We were not disappointed.
Blue whales are the biggest animals that have ever lived; bigger even than the largest dinosaur. They grow to nearly 100 feet in length and 190 tons, that's tons, in weight. They are baleen whales, which means they feed on tiny crustaceans called krill. Less than an inch long, the krill that morning were countless in number, thick like a blanket at least a foot deep just below the water's surface. The whales swam with their mouths agate, taking in huge amounts of krill, then straining out the seawater with the baleen that they had instead of teeth. We couldn't see much of the whales, just their backs as they skimmed the water's surface. What we could see, just that small portion of their backs, was probably twelve feet or more across, giving some indication of how large these animals were.
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| Blue Whale |
Blue whales were hunted relentlessly by whalers in the late 19th through the mid 20th centuries. Now, they are protected. Though their numbers are a fraction of what they were before humans began to exploit them, they do seem to have rebounded to levels that assure their survival.
I was in awe of the blue whales that I saw in the ocean near Santa Barbara that day. I just wished then that I could have seen more of them than a small portion of their backs. Recently, I stumbled across a video on You Tube that features underwater video of a blue whale. It's wonderful. I don't know how big this particular whale is. I like to think it's really big, close to 100 feet in length. We are the first generation to be able to see these creatures as they are. I hope that means we will always protect them.
Here is a link to an wonderful video with underwater footage of a blue whale... http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_897791&feature=iv&src_vid=9pjI2XkmoL0&v=WAwzjnhTsjI
Greetings Geoffrey,
ReplyDeleteI love the photo you have of the Blue Whale. I am a children's author publishing a book on marine animals entitled, "The Fish Who Could Fly."
I would love permission to use your photo in my book and will give you full credit, of course. Please let me know if I can do this. Thank you.
Leonard Lambert
leonard@leonardwlambert.com
Hey Leonard, I never check the comments section. I apologize for missing your comment. The photo of the blue whale is not mine. I use it only to provide some visual representation of the whales. In fact, what we saw of the whales most of the time was just part of their backs as they surfaced for air then went down again.
DeleteHope you found what you needed for your book.