Blue whale facts – size
One of the most well known Blue whale facts is of course that this animal is huge. An adult Blue whale can reach a length of 100 feet (approximately 30 metres) and weigh over 150 short tons (roughly 140 tonnes).

The Blue whale is not only the largest marine mammal; it is actually believed to be the biggest animal ever to have lived on our planet. It is true that the dinosaurs could reach impressive sizes but, as far as we known today, the biggest dinosaur was the Argentinosaurus. Estimations made from fossil records suggests that this huge dinosaur could weigh up to 100 short tons (roughly 90 tonnes), but this is still significantly less than the weight of the largest adult Blue whales of today.

Blue whale fact – size record
The reliability of early record Blue whale facts have been disputed by the scientific community. These Blue whale facts may be unreliable, since a majority of them concerns Blue whales that were caught by whalers in the Antarctic waters during the initial 50 years of the 20th century. These whales were not measured by scientists; they were measured by commercial whalers that were not educated in standard zoological measurement techniques. Obtaining Blue whale facts regarding weight is also very difficult unless you have the right equipment and techniques since this is not really a type of animal that you can toss on an ordinary fish scale.

If we believe in these early Blue whale facts, the longest Blue whales ever caught was two female Blue whales that measured 110 feet 3 inches (33.6 metres) and 109 feet 3 inches (33.3 metres) respectively. The longest scientifically measured Blue whale was instead 98 feet (29.9 metres) long. This whale was measured at the American National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML).   

Blue whale facts – size comparison
As mentioned above, the immense size of the Blue whale is one of the most well known Blue whale facts. Truly realising how large Blue whales can become are however difficult, since we typically see them filmed in the ocean where there are not a lot of familiar objects to compare them with. If the 98 feet (29.9 metres) long Blue whale mentioned earlier in this article would have been photographed at an airport, you would for instance have seen that it was of roughly the same length as a Boeing 737 airplane. The Blue whale heart alone is the size of a small car, which makes it the largest heart in the world. You could fit 50 humans into the mouth of a Blue whale and the animal’s tongue is of roughly the same size as and adult elephant.    

Blue whale fact – the calf
When the Blue whale calf is born it weighs up to 3,000 pounds (roughly 1350 kilograms), which makes it as heavy as an adult hippopotamus. The Blue whale calf will rapidly gain weight and it is possible for a Blue whale calf to gain 200 pounds (approximately 90 kilograms) in 24 hours. This amazing Blue whale fact is possible thanks to the fat and highly nutritious milk produced by the female Blue whale. During its initial 7 months, the young Blue whale calf will drink around 100 gallons (roughly 400 litres) of milk – each day!

Whale & Dolphin Articles:

Beluga Whale
Beluga Whale Facts
Blue Whale
Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose Dolphin Facts
Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale Facts
Sperm Whale
Pygme Sperm Whale