LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Whales (Ecotourism): Blue Whales
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Blue Whales are the largest animals on Earth. They can weight up to 150 tons. The average Blue Whale size is 70-85 feet long. The heart of a Blue Whale is the size of a sports car. The tongue weights up to 4 tons and can hold a full grown elephant alone.
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Whales are amazing creatures. Not only are they among the largest creatures on Earth (Blue whales ARE the largest living creatures on the planet!) but they are ... among the most gentle and friendly, and very family oriented. Whales were given a bad rap by whale hunters (who called them "devilfish") starting in the 1600s, because some mother whales were violent in the water when protecting their young from harpoons, but what good mother WOULDN’T do anything to protect her baby?
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Blue Whales are truly a majestic species, with a tall narrow blow of up to 30'. A bright blue coloration is easily observed before the whales surface. Because of their size, only part of their body is visible at a time and the dorsal fin is usually observed just before their dive. Blue Whales may lunge feed at the surface to engulf surface swarms of krill or they may fluke up and dive to several hundred feet for deep krill concentrations. A single Blue Whale consumes about 4 tons of krill or 40 million individual krill each day. In Monterey Bay, Blue Whales often occur near the edges of the submarine canyon where krill tends to concentrate.
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With modern whaling methods... finback whales became easy victims. As blue whales became depleted, the whaling industry turned to the smaller, still abundant fin whales as a replacement. As many as 30,000 fin whales were slaughtered each year from 1935 to 1965. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) placed them under full protection in 1966 beginning with the North Pacific population. The present populations are estimated to be about 40,000 in the northern hemisphere and there may be as many as 15,000-20,000 in the southern hemisphere, a small percentage of the original population levels.
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When Blue whales are born they are about 20 feet long will gain around 192 pounds aday. The whale has to be quick learners. Blue whales mate during the winter breeding season. The female Blue whale give birth to one calf every 2 - 3 years. The female will leave these areas to give birth in warmer waters. Calves can swim as soon as they are born.
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Some of the larger rorqual whales produce powerful low-frequency moans. The blue whale produces sounds of 12-390 Hz at188 dB. Most other rorqual whales produce similar sounds. The bowhead whale produces moans (25-900 Hz, up to 178 dB), pulses (25-3500 Hz, up to 185 dB) and songs (20-500 Hz, up to 189 dB).
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Blue Whales