Endangered Species

 Blue Whale OR Balaenoptera musculus

About The Blue Whale

• The largest animal to ever live on land or in water. (uen) 
• Mammals- Warm blooded, breath air, produce milk for young, and have fur/hair. (uen) 
• Baleen Whale rather than a Toothed Whale. (uen) 

  BALEEN WHALES

  Have 2 blowholes

  Have baleen plates in their mouths instead of teeth

  Feed mainly on krill and plankton and other very small marine animals

  Have large mouths and small throats

  TOOTHED WHALES

  Have 1 blowhole

  Have up to 250 teeth

  Have asymmetrical skulls

  Feed mainly on fish

  Have wider throats since their prey is larger  (uen) 

• Have small social groups, normally swim in pairs (acsonline)
• Life span is around 35-40 years (enchantedlearning)
• The Blue Whale is an example of a "K" Strategist, having one calf or very rarely two, and caring for them until -------. (enchantedlearning)
• They tend to breed during the winter or early spring seasons near the surface and in warm waters. (acsonline)
• The gestation period on average is 1 year, the baby then being born tail first. (enchantedlearning)
• The calf must learn to swim within the first 30 min, and normally goes up for air within the first 10 seconds after birth. (enchantedlearning)
• A Blue Whale will reach maturity at 10-15 years, but will leave the protection of it's mother around 1 year. (enchantedlearning)
• The Blue Whale averages 85-90 feet in length and can way up to 100 tons! Females tend to be larger than the male. (acsonline)
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Habitat

Environmental Effects

Dangerous Threats

    Blue Whales swim near the surface of the water where they can come up to breath. These waters are also being populated with boats and fishing lines that can hit the whales, potentially injuring them.  (marinebio)
The Blue Whale was hunted close to extinction by humans until 1966, this caused the population to be below sustainability. With the population this low, and such a slow spawning rate, the Blue Whale is struggling to come back.

Predator and Prey

    The Blue Whale has very few predators because of its massive size, however they are known to be attacked by pacts of Killer Whales(Orcas). This mostly happens to their young, before they can fully protect themselves. Also the Human used to be a predator to the Blue Whale. It used to be hunted until a ban put it in the protected species list in 1966. (enchantedlearning)
    The Baleen Whales are seasonal feeders. They are carnivores that filter feed on small krill, plankton, and other small crustaceans. The Blue Whale will open its mouth and 50-70 throat plates allow the throat to expand and gulp down huge amounts of water, which is filtered by the baleen plates that catch the food. This allows the whale to feed on large schools of these small organisms at once. Their feeding season is during the summer in the arctic waters, and lasts about 120 days. (enchantedlearning)

What is Being Done to Help

    For threatened or endangered species, we have created Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). These are meant for marine animals that are known to return to breeding or feeding grounds annually. They have marked off these areas as little sanctuaries to try and protect the species, and bring back their declining populations. MPAs have been set in multiple places worldwide, however, they have limited size restrictions.  (marinebio)
    There was an Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 created in the U.S. to protect native species, but it is extremely limited. Then there were the Endangered Species Conservation Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Acts of 1972, which were made to prevent mass extinctions. Basically these acts prevented the use of endangered species to humans for food, fur, and other commercial uses. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was created in 1973 to cut back on the trade of these species in trouble.  (marinebio)
    The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the most important environmental laws created in the U.S. This Act is responsible for defining the state of the species, such as endangered or threatened. It then tries to protect them by putting bands on them and requiring the federal agencies to conserve habitats for them. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are then the organizations responsible for enforcing the Endangered Species Act's decisions.  (marinebio)
    The Blue Whale has had a slow recovery, but is truly making a comeback in the population. In the past recent years we have seen the growth in numbers more clearly. (acsonline)

Interesting Facts

• The Whale in general can grow to enormous sizes because the water helps support their weight. This is why they have a risk of dying when becoming beached. They all breath air, but when they become beached the pressure from their bodies weight traps their lungs, causing a breathing impairment. This weight can also damage many internal organs and even damage the skeleton, which is not built to support that amount of weight.
• A Comparison of the Size of the Blue Whale and Other Interesting Animals(enchantedlearning)
  
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• The Blue Whale is the loudest animal in existence. It's calls are extremely low frequency sounds that travel for miles underwater. This loud sound is used for finding mates or groups of krill or other food, and is louder than a jet engine.
  
• The Blue Whale was hunted in the early 1900's for the use of it's valuable oil. (acsonline)
• Extremely fast swimmers, the Blue Whale if startled can swim at 30 mph, but will normally swim at around 12 mph. (acsonline)

Bibliography

Websites

http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/bluewhl.htm

http://www.marinebio.org/Oceans/ThreatenedEndangeredSpecies.asp?gclid=CKf3hZCjlpcCFRgqHgod-kWo-w

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=4638

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/species/Bluewhale.shtml

Books