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The blue whale is the largest animal known ever to have existed. [42] [43] [44] Some studies have estimated that certain shastasaurid ichthyosaurs and the ancient whale Perucetus could have rivalled the blue whale in size, with Perucetus also being heavier than the blue whale with a mean weight of 180 t (180 long tons; 200 short tons).
Baleen whales range in size from the 6 m (20 ft) and 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) pygmy right whale to the 31 m (102 ft) and 190 t (210 short tons) blue whale, the largest known animal to have ever existed. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] They are sexually dimorphic .
A typical precocial mammal has a gestation period almost four times longer than a typical altricial mammal of the same body size. [20] Precocial mammal species generally have greater adult body weights than altricial mammals as precocial mammals have markedly longer gestation periods than altricial mammals. [21]
In general, blue whale populations migrate between their summer feeding areas near the poles and their winter breeding grounds near the tropics. There is also evidence of year-round residencies, and partial or age/sex-based migration. Blue whales are filter feeders; their diet consists almost exclusively of krill. They are generally solitary or ...
The pygmy right whale shares several characteristics with the right whales, with the exception of having a dorsal fin. Also, pygmy right whales' heads are no more than one quarter the size of their bodies, whereas the right whales' heads are about one-third the size of their bodies. [11] The pygmy right whale is the only extant member of its ...
The pygmy blue whale is the only one of the three identifiable subspecies to be found regularly in tropical waters. It occurs from the sub-Antarctic zone to the southern Indian Ocean and southwestern Pacific Ocean, breeding in the Indian and South Atlantic oceans, and travelling south to above the Antarctic to feed, [4] [7] although they very rarely cross the Antarctic Convergence.
Rorquals (/ ˈ r ɔːr k w əl z /) are the largest group of baleen whales, comprising the family Balaenopteridae, which contains nine extant species in two genera.They include the largest known animal that has ever lived, the blue whale, which can reach 180 tonnes (200 short tons), and the fin whale, which reaches 120 tonnes (130 short tons); even the smallest of the group, the northern minke ...
The blue whale is the largest mammal of all time, with the longest known specimen being 33 m (108.3 ft) long and the heaviest weighted specimen being 190 tonnes. [ 15 ] [ 60 ] [ 61 ] The extinct whale species Perucetus colossus was shorter than the blue whale, at 17.0–20.1 meters (55.8–65.9 ft) but it is estimated to have rivaled or ...