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Blue Whale Facts

Have you ever been to a zoo and seen an elephant? It probably looked really big to you, but it sure wouldn’t to me. You see, my tongue can weigh as much as an elephant! Blue whales like me are among the largest animals to have ever lived.

Blue whales are classified as baleen (buh-LEEN) whales. This means instead of having teeth, we have baleen plates. These work like a strainer to separate seawater from the krill (tiny, shrimp-like creatures) that we like to eat. I have balloon-like folds in my throat so I can fill my mouth with lots of water and then force it out of my mouth, through the baleen plates, leaving only the krill behind. I’ll eat up to four tons of these tiny creatures every day. Isn’t it amazing that the biggest creature on earth eats something you can’t even see without a microscope?

Here are some cool facts about blue whales:

• My heart is very heavy—it can weigh as much as a small car—and my stomach is the size of a minivan!
• The spray from my blowhole can reach up to 30 feet (9 m) in the air.
• We’re not only the biggest animals on earth, we’re also the loudest. We can be heard hundreds or even thousands of miles away. But human ears can’t hear the high frequency of our noises.

Class: Mammalia (mammals)
Order: Cetacea
Family: Balaenopteridae
Genus/Species: Balaenoptera musculus
Length: 80–110 feet (25–32 m)
Weight: Up to 200 tons (181,437 kg)
Diet: Krill (microscopic, shrimp-like creatures)
Habitat: Deep oceans worldwide

Character Trait

The blue whale should remind us of a “whale of a problem” that’s on earth—sin. The Bible says “for all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). We all sin and break God’s commandments. But the good news is that Jesus came and died, taking the punishment for sin upon Himself. All we have to do is repent and put our faith and trust in Jesus to receive salvation and forgiveness for our sin. If we accept this free gift, we have freedom to live for God and not for sin. But living for God can be really hard sometimes! That’s why we need to rely on God to help us stand for Him.

Verse

“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13).

Apologetics Focus

Did you know that whales and dolphins are super smart? This should remind us of how much smarter people are than any animal! Dolphins are considered smart because they can do simple tricks, but humans were designed differently from the animals, in the image of God, and can do incredible things such as build skyscrapers and write encyclopedias. Now, sometimes we think that people who lived a long time ago, such as before the Flood of Noah’s day, weren’t as smart as people today. But that’s not true! People have always been smart. Before the Flood they built cities, played musical instruments, and used metals (Genesis 4:17, 21–22)—just like we do today.

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Blue Whales