Blue+Whales

=​​​ Blue Whales ~Amy Nguyen~​ =

__Basic Statistics:__
====The Blue Whale classification name is //Balenoptera// //musculus//. The Blue Whale is the largest animal and mammal in the world today. The Blue Whale can be found in various oceans around the world such as: North Atlantic, North Pacific, Indian Ocean, Southern Pacific Ocean and many more.This organism is very easily spotted in the salt waters because of it's massive size, and because of their massive size they are currently listed under the endangered species. Most Blue Whales have trouble adapting to their environment because they are overly big and it can be hard for them to maneuver around in they're surroundings. Not only does their extremely large bodies make them fall under the endangered species category but also past whale hunting during and before the 1960's. Before whale hunting took action there were at least 200,000 blue whales that swam the oceans but today, there are only approximately 15,000 left on earth.====
 * Kingdom: || Animalida ||
 * Phylum: || Chordata ||
 * Class: || Mammala ||
 * Order: || Cetacea ||
 * Family: || Balaenopteridae ||
 * Genus: || Baasenoptera ||
 * Species: || Musculus ||

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The Blue Whale consumes crustaceans (krills, copepods and zooplanktons) which makes them carnivores. Since the Blue Whale is the largest organism living, they do not really have any predators except humans. Although there is not an actual predator for the Blue Whale, there have been records of Killer Whales (Orcas) //Orcinus orca// attacking young Blue Whales. The Blue Whales have mutual relationships with dolphins and other plant /krill eaters in the same environment. The Blue Whale is very mellow and not as violent as other types of whales. The Blue Whale migrates be itself, it does not really travel with others. The Blue Whale lives in a marine ecosystem. Some abiotic things that are in the ocean are: water, pollution, fish nets, rocks and sand. Some biotic things that are in the ocean are: fishes, corals, krill, other sea animal creatures. The name of the biome where the blue whales are found are in Icelandic and Celtic Marine Ecosystem. The Blue Whales mainly dwell in cold temperate waters and they like to swim in the deep water close to the coast. Since Blue Whales live in very cold water, they live in a very cold climate.======

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The Blue Whale has a very long and slender body structure. Its head is flat and it looks like a U-shaped structure. The Blue Whale also has a bulge ridge running from the blowhole (the hole where the blue whale breathes in air) to the top of the upper lip. The Blue Whale has baleen plates that covers the front where the mouth is and are used for feeding and filtering. They also have enormous fins and flippers that are very much like a human's arm structure. Except the Blue Whales fins and flippers have a different function; they are used for deep diving and swimming in the ocean. The Blue Whale has a blue- grey color and on its belly and upper side it is usually lighter or just white. The Blue Whale grows up to about 80 feet long and weighs roughly about 120-200 tons. Also the female species is bigger than the male species. Some adaptations the Blue Whale must have is having its baleen plates, without this structure, this organism would not be able to feed or filter out unwanted things. Another adaptation of the blue whale is its blowhole without it, they would not be able to breathe and they would not survive. Whales are mammals so therefore the blue whale can only have a couple of calves per time, and the gestation time is 10-15 months. When a Blue Whale calve is born, it weights roughly about 5,000-6,000 pounds and it intakes a lot of its mother's milk. The mating season for Blue Whales vary, it depends how the temperature and surroundings are like, if the temperature and their surrounding is satisfying for them then they would mate.======

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Some interesting behaviors that Blue Whales have are singing rituals and mating rituals. During mating time, the male would attract the female by singing their songs and both the female and male would circle around each other, this would last for quite a while then eventually they would mate.======

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