Poles & OceansEndangered
Blue whale
Balaenoptera musculus
The biggest animal that has ever lived. It is a mammal: it breathes air and feeds its calf milk.
- Weight
- Up to 150,000 kg
- Size
- 30 m long
- Lifespan
- 80–90 years
- Top speed
- Up to 30 km/h
- Diet
- Krill
- Mammal group
- Placental
How heavy is that?
As heavy as 3,750 kids. That's too many to draw, so here are 200.
Where it lives
Three things to know
- Its heart weighs about 180 kg.
- In feeding season it can eat about 16,000 kg of krill a day.
- Its calls travel hundreds of kilometres underwater.
Compare with…
- Weight
- Blue whale150,000 kgA 10-year-old kid40 kgThe blue whale weighs about 3,750× as much as the kid
- Size
- Blue whale30 mA 10-year-old kid1.4 mThe blue whale is about 21× as big as the kid
- Top speed
- Blue whale30 km/hA 10-year-old kid20 km/hThe blue whale is about 1.5× as fast as the kid
- Lifespan
- Blue whale90 yrsA 10-year-old kid80 yrsAbout the same
