The largest living animal... ever!

Today I learnt that the Blue Whale is not not only the largest living animal but - probably - also the largest one to have ever lived!

They live  worldwide and are considered endangered by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) due to the human activity, most notably the pollution and the fisheries interactions.

Here is some impressive numbers:

Weight:  up to 150000 kg (330000 pounds)
Length:  27-33 m (88-108 feet) depending on location (the largest live in Antarctic)
Life:       unknown (maybe about 90 years) but sexually mature at 5-15 years.
Diet:       Krill, a lot of it! 3.6 metric tons (4 imperial tons) of krill each day.

However a picture (or in this case, a drawing) is much more effective in visualizing how large they are!




(photo by Harry Wilson via I fucking love science )


They are considered endangered and it's estimated there are 5000-12000 Blue Whales remaining today (with the largest population of 2000 living off the US West Coast in the North Pacific).

 Other information on Blue Whales are available here: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/




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