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Blue Whale

Before You Read:
The Largest Animals Ever

What's the most massive creature that has ever lived on Earth? Is it the 100-ton ultrasaurus? No. Is it the 110-ton Argentinosaurus? Not even close! Although these long-extinct dinosaurs are among the biggest animals ever, the most massive creature of all time still swims in our oceans. Have you guessed which creature this is? It is the blue whale. The heaviest blue whale on record weighed more than 190 tons. (That's 380,000 pounds!) This whale weighed about as much as two ultrasauruses, or 30 African elephants, or 2,600 adult humans! But size is only one of the amazing things about the blue whale and its cetacean relatives.

What do you know about whales? Write what you know in a word web like the one below.

Share your web with some classmates. When you are done, click here to learn some amazing facts about whales.
 

Whale Watch

• Whales are mammals, not fish. Like other mammals, baby whales drink their mother's milk -- and lots of it! Some baby whales have 40 meals a day, drinking a total of 100 gallons of milk in a single day.
• With one deep breath, a whale can take in as much air as in thousands of your breaths. Some whales can hold their breath underwater for more than an hour. When whales breathe out through the blowholes on their heads, the air can travel 300 miles per hour.
• Whales make the loudest sounds of any living thing. Some sounds made by the blue whale can be heard underwater more than 500 miles away.

In the next activity, you'll have a chance to read about another amazing whale, the humpback. Go to Wonderful Whales.

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