For many, the sight of a single whale, or group of whales, is a moving, unforgettable experience. These giant creatures, which live entirely in the water but need to come to the surface to breathe, are quite simply awe-inspiring. The blue whale is the heaviest and longest animal on Earth. The average adult length is 25m for males and 26.2m for females, with weights of 90-120 tonnes. A blue whale eats up to four tonnes of krill daily - equal to eating an adult African elephant every day.
Whale facts and figures can be stunning: the tallest blow (the water spout produced above a whale’s head) is produced by blue whales, who can produce blows of up to 12m. Sperm whales have been known to dive as deep as 3000m and stay submerged for two hours. One bowhead whale was reported to have lived for 130 years. The sperm whale has the world's heaviest brain which can weigh up to 9.2kg (compared to the average adult human brain, which weighs 1.4kg). The dorsal fin of the bull orca (killer whale) can reach 1.8m in height, and a bull orca has been timed swimming at 34 mph. Humpback whales are able to launch their entire body clear of the water and have been recorded breaching over 100 times in succession.
Whales are vocal creatures, with the haunting songs of the humpback whale being particularly famous, and audible underwater hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away. These songs are learnt and passed on to other whales within specific populations.
Many whale species live and feed in the colder, polar waters, migrating thousands of miles to return to warmer waters to breed. The females are devoted parents, suckling their young for up to a year. Whales are generally peaceful creatures – and, in spite of their name, even the killer whale (actually a member of the dolphin family) has no appetite for humans!
