Reports
Sunnylea Junior School
The Blue Whale
| The research report you are about to read is on the
Blue whale. It was designated rare in 1983, but now they are vulnerable. It is a marine
mammal. The scientific name for a Blue whale is balaenoptera musculas. This report
includes appearance, habitat, food, threats and interesting facts about the Blue whale.
You should read the report because it will help you find the information you need to know
about the Blue whale. The Blue whale has a pretty body. It's colour of it's body is dark blue gray. It has white oval spots on it's flanks. It has a slight notch in the middle of it's fluke (tail). They has pointed flipper and small dorsal fins. Blue whales have 70-118 throat grooves, caves only have 58-80. Calves are born in April and May. Calves are 23 feet at birth. They are 2 tons at birth. Twins do occur, but usually carves are born singularly. Blue whales are the longest animals in the world They are 29.5 meters. They can be a long as 3 railway carriages. Blue whales are baleen whales. Baleen means they don't have teeth. They have little stubby things instead. The Blue whale has many habitats all over the ocean and other water places. They have habitats in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in the Gulf of California. Also, Blue whales live in the Atlantic ocean, Pacific and Arctic. The Pacific population is off shore, and the Atlantic population is >in shallow coastal zones. Blue whales spend summer at the edge of polar ice. They need water to ensure a high productivity of plankton (krill). Sometimes, they swim in groups of 2-5, but, usually they swim singularly. Blue whales eat small creatures because they don't have teeth to chew bigger water animals. They mostly eat plankton and jelly fish. Calves grow on their mother's rich milk. Calves drink about 44 gallons of milk a day. The Blue whale has many man made threats. 15 000 Blue whales were caught under legal whaling, but whaling is protected in some places. They are protected under Canadian whaling regulations and north Pacific whaling was prohibited in 1980. Some Blue whales are hunted by people. Yet, commercial whaling is not protected. Often oil tankers and other types of big boats and ships cause oil pollution. This happens in many different ways. Sometimes, oil tankers that are so big, they hit big rocks, that are on the bottom of the ocean or other water areas. Other times, boat or ships simply just have holes in their oil tanks. This all would cause oil pollution in the foundation. Blue whales have many interesting facts. Blue whales can actually weigh 190 tons. They weigh 20 times as much as an African elephant. An adult Blue whale's tongue can weigh as much as an elephant. They can be 110 feet long. They are much bigger than any dinosaur. Mothers can give birth to twins buy usually do not. By Natalie a
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Copyright 1997, 2000 - Joan Goble and René de Vries
