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The Blue Whale is the largest animal to have lived

Did you know that the largest animal ever to have lived is the blue whale?

The blue whale can reach a length of up to 35 meters and weigh up to 175 tons. This animal can be found in all the oceans around the world. It has also been spotted in the North Sea, but it is rarely seen there due to the shallow depths. The blue whale is a relatively harmless animal. It feeds exclusively on plankton, which it filters from the water with the many baleen plates in its mouth.

The blue whale is an endangered species. In the 1960s, the blue whale was almost extinct. Whaling was so intensive at that time that the population of blue whales reached a low point of between 500 and 2,000 individuals. This small population led to a high ranking on the endangered species list. Because hunting endangered species is prohibited, the blue whale population had a chance to recover. The population has since increased somewhat and is currently estimated at between 10,000 and 25,000. However, this is nothing compared to the estimated more than 300,000 individuals that the population boasted at the beginning of the last century.

Contrary to popular belief, no dinosaur fossil larger than the blue whale has been found. The largest dinosaur ever discovered is the Argentinosaurus (it did indeed live in present-day Argentina). This dinosaur approached the blue whale in length, measuring between 30 and 35 meters, but its weight of 80 to 100 tons does not come close to the aforementioned 175 tons that a blue whale can weigh. New dinosaur fossils are still being found regularly, so it is not inconceivable that a fossil larger than the blue whale will one day be discovered. Such an enormous animal would, of course, also have enormous body parts and organs.

For example, read about the heart of the blue whale.

The photo accompanying this article is  created by Christopher Michel via flickr.com.