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Blue Whale Size and Dimensions

November 29, 2022November 29, 2022 by Pablo

The blue whale size is the largest animal known to have ever lived on this earth. They are thought to get as big as 100 feet (2400 inches or 6 meters) long and weigh up to 200 tons (400,000lb)! That is more than the weight of thirty elephants! With a heart that weighs close to 1,000 pounds (0.5 tons) and blood that is eight times thicker than our own, these creatures are truly amazing.

Blue Whale Size and Dimensions size-charts.com — _{Image Source: Smithsonian Ocean}

Despite their size, not much is known about them since they live in the depths of the ocean where humans cannot go. The calf’s weight is almost equal to the weight of a fully-grown elephant.

This guide will give valuable information on the size of blue whale size. We’ll look into aspects like the average size of a blue whale and compare the measurements to popular mammals and historic animals like the megalodon. We’ll also compare the size of a blue whale to ordinary objects.

Quick note: Despite their enormous sizes, blue whales survive perfectly in their ecosystems due to the vast availability of their natural habitat. Water, specifically oceans, covers a significant part of the earth and makes it easier for whales to navigate, feed, grow, and reproduce.

Jump right into the Frequently Asked Questions

Blue Whale Size Table of Contents

Blue whale size parameters
Comparing the size and speed of a blue whale
What is the relationship between blue whale sizes and their habitats?
What size is the biggest blue whale?
Frequently Asked Questions

Blue whale size parameters

A blue whale’s size in feet is 80 to 120 feet (960 inches or 24 meters to 1440 inches or 37 meters). How about blue whale baby sizes? Well, blue whale babies are large animals, measuring between 20 to 25 feet long and weighing more than 5,000 pounds.

Being newborn calves hardly prevents the baby whales from feeding and growing fast in size. Calves consume more than 45 gallons of milk from their mothers to gain close to 260 pounds daily and double their length in half a year.

Blue whale’s size chart by habitat

Region	Average length (meters)	feet	Average weight (Female)	Male
Eastern North Pacific blue whales	22.0 meters	(72.1 ft)	112	100
central and western North Pacific blue whales	24 meters	(79 ft)	100	88.5
North Atlantic blue whales	21–24 meters	(68–78 ft)	87	80
Antarctic blue whales	25.4–26.3 meters	(83.4–86.3 ft)	112	130
Chilean blue whales	23.5 meters	(77.1 ft)	93	85
pygmy blue whales	21.3 meters	(69.9 ft)	99	83.5

A blue whale’s size and diet

You may wonder how blue whales gain weight so fast and sustain their sizes throughout their lifetimes. Mature blue whales feed on krill.

They consume more than 10,000 pounds (4536 KG) of crustaceans by swallowing them in bulk amounts of water. The whales filter the krill and other fish for digestion. They separate the excess water from food using baleens.

Check out this video to compare sea basses

_{Sea Monsters Size Comparison by Reigarw Comparisons}

Comparing the size and speed of a blue whale

The blue whale size and speed findings show that a 30-meter-long (131 feet) blue whale weighing approximately 170 tons (340000 pounds) swims at a top speed of 50 kilometers per hour (31 miles per hour). Blue whales move slower when traveling or feeding, about 5 miles per hour (8 kph).

The sizes of a blue whale’s organs

Like their overall body size, blue whale organs measure and weigh more than most animals.

Tongue

A blue whale’s tongue is quite heavy. It weighs almost 5,500 pounds (2268 kg), which is the equivalent of one adult elephant.

Heart

The heart of a blue whale measures equally compared to a small car. Blue whales need large hearts to cater to their big bodies. The heart weighs around 180 kilograms or 400 pounds and measures 4 feet wide, 5 feet long (1.5 meters), and 5 feet high (1.5 meters). The blue whale’s heart weighs 15 times more than a mature elephant’s.

Arteries and veins

The blue whale artery size is 9 inches in diameter and allows a human child to glide through the whale’s aorta. Veins are smaller, with most diameters measuring not more than 7 inches (18 cm). Adult human beings cannot fit through a blue whale’s vein but can only pop their heads.

Tail fins

A blue whale tail fin measures the same width as a goal post, which is around 25 feet(7.6 meters). The tail fins are wide and powerful to propel their large bodies through the water.

Mouth, throat, and esophagus

Interestingly, blue whales can stretch their mouths to four times their sizes and hold water equal to their body weights. Their mouths are surprisingly big, and each can fit 105 people.

The largemouth capacity allows a 27-meter-long blue (87 feet) whale to swallow over 75,000 liters (19813 gallons) of water in one gulp.

However, a blue whale’s throat and esophagus measure less than their mouths. Therefore, blue whales can only swallow smaller prey, as their throats measure between 4 and 9 inches (23 cm) in diameter. The esophagus measures 4 to 5 inches (13 cm).

Stomach

A blue whale’s stomach is big enough to hold slightly over 2,000 pounds (907 kg)of krill. Blue whales eat about 9,000 lbs (4082 kg) of krill daily to satisfy their large bodies.

Blowholes

Like human beings, blue whales breathe air. They use unique organs called blowholes. With a diameter of approximately 20 inches (51 cm), the blowhole can accommodate a small child glided through the opening.

Flippers and dorsal fins

Blue whales have flippers and dorsal fins on their exterior bodies. Flippers are comparatively short extensions that account for 12% of a total blue whale’s length.

Dorsal fins vary among blue whales, but most measures about 30 centimeters (12 inches) and are small and rounded.

Brain

The brain of a blue whale is bigger than those of other mammals. Blue whale brains weigh between 8 to 10 kilograms (22 lb). However, the blue whale’s brain size is considerably smaller when compared to the proportionate blue whale’s size.

Eyes

Blue whale eyes are as small as softballs. The small eyes are not proportional to their big bodies. They hardly rely on their eyes for navigation, protection, and hunting, because they rely on other instincts.

Lungs

A blue whale’s lungs are large enough to contain a lot of oxygen, some holding up to 5,500 liters (1453 gallons).

The large capacity of their lungs allows blue whales to hold their breaths for as long as sixty minutes when they dive as deep as 100 meters below ocean surfaces.

Bladder

The blue whale’s bladder can hold up to 310 liters (82 gallons) of urine. The mammal urinates an average of 5 times each day, meaning blue whales can excrete more than 400 gallons (1514 liters) in a single day.

Baleen whale sizes

There are 16 recorded members of the baleen whale family. Because they don’t have teeth, baleen whales use the plate-like structures along their mouth linings to filter food from seawater.

Baleens are made up of hardened keratin, and unlike conical teeth, they are narrow and curved to capture krill, fish, and other crustaceans.

While the sizes of these structures vary across baleen whales, most baleen plates measure between 3 to 4 meters long (13 feet).

Blue whales are the biggest baleen whales. Pygmy right whales account for smaller baleen types, as most of their bodies measure 6 to 10 meters long (33 feet). Other members of the baleen family include the bowhead, gray, blue, and minke whales.

Check out this video about blue whales to learn more about the size of them

_{How Large Are Blue Whales Really? Size Comparison by Facts in Motion}

What is the relationship between blue whale sizes and their habitats?

Blue whales from the Northern sphere are smaller than blue whales from the Southern Sphere. Also, researchers observe that blue whales cannot surpass the 34-meter length (112 feet) because this would overwhelm their energy and metabolic functions.

Blue whales measure different lengths in their various oceanic habitats. Most adult females in the Pacific grow between 22 to 25 meters (82 feet) long. Those in the Atlantic measure between 20 to 24 meters (78 feet), while blue whales in the Antarctic can measure beyond 26 meters long.

What size is the biggest blue whale?

The longest blue whale ever recorded, a female, measured 110 feet and 17 inches in length, equivalent to 34 meters. The only other blue whale which came close to the record length was a female, which measured 109 feet long.

Another female, the heaviest ever recorded, was captured in the 1940s and weighed 419,000 pounds, equivalent to 209 tons. Scientists captured and measured the longest whale in the Atlantic waters.

Another group of researchers measured the heaviest blue whale, which lived in the Antarctic waters.

Frequently Asked Questions

How big is a full-sized blue whale?

A full-sized blue whale weighs up to 200 tons (400,000 lb) and measures between 100 and 110 feet long (360 feet). Adult blue whales can grow as high as 33 feet (10 meters).

Most mature blue whales measure between 70 and 100 feet (30 meters) long and weigh between 100 and 180 tons (360,000 lbs). However, male blue whales are slightly smaller than female blue whales.

How big are blue whales vs elephants?

Blue whales weigh almost as much as 30 to 35 elephants. An adult elephant weighs between six and eight tons, and the blue whale can weigh more than 180 tons (360,000 lbs).

A blue whale baby at birth weighs the same as one adult elephant but gains more than 220 pounds (100kg) each day to weigh as heavy as five elephants in only six months.

What is the height of a blue whale?

Most adult blue whales will measure between 30 to 35 feet (11 meters) in height. The blue whale’s height equals the length of a mid-sized lorry or a mid-sized school bus.

Blue whale babies measure between 5 to 10 feet (3 meters) high before reaching adulthood.

Blue whale’s size versus other mammals and objects

Scientists compared the blue whale length and width to various animals on land and water. They found that the blue whale surpasses most big creatures by ten or more times. They also discovered that male blue whales are smaller than females.

However, all adult blue whales weigh between 100 and 200 tons (400, 000lbs). In this section, we’ll compare the blue whale size to human beings, whale sharks, elephants, a soccer pitch, and more.

Blue whale size compared to humans: The blue whale size comparison to human beings reveals that the blue whale measures up to 30 meters (98 feet) long, which is more than 15 times the average height of a human being. Also, the blue whale weighs almost 2600 times more than a 70-kilogram (154 lbs) human being.
Blue whale size compared to a whale shark: A whale shark vs blue whale size comparison indicates that the blue whale is larger than the whale shark. A whale shark measure between 5 and 18 meters long and weighs 10 to 22 tons (44000 lbs).
Blue whale size compared to an asteroid: A full-grown blue whale measures a third of the total size of an asteroid.
Blue whale size compared to bus and airplane: It takes three school buses aligned in a straight line or one airplane to measure the same length as a mature blue whale. At 180 tons (360,000 lbs), the blue whale weighs 15 times more than a school bus.
Blue whale compared to soccer pitch: Three blue whales measuring 100 feet (30 meters) each fit on a soccer field.
Blue whale compared to megalodon: A megalodon could measure between 50 to 70 feet (21 meters) long. When they were still in existence, megalodons weighed between 50 to 100 tons. On the other hand, blue whales grow up to 100 (30 meters) feet long and can weigh more than 180-200 tons, proving that the blue whale is almost twice the size of the extinct megalodon.
Blue whale size compared to grizzly bears: If you compare the blue whale’s weight to a polar bear, you’ll discover that the whale weighs the same as 300 mature grizzly bears.
The Antarctic blue whale size: The Antarctic blue whale size trumps all other animals in height, weight, and length. This oceanic wonder weighs around 210 tons (420,000 lbs) and measures 25 to 33 meters (108 feet) long.
The size and energy of a blue whale: Everything about the blue whale’s size points to an enormous creature. With its remarkable size and energy, the mammal can flip a boat or ship, as witnessed in San Diego, where a blue whale unintentionally overturned a boat when it got too close.

Was the blue whale bitten in half?

Speculations surround the blue whale size bitten in half. Scientists examined the oceanic mammal that washed up along the South African coast. They found that the whale was nibbled in half by a white shark.

The occurrence seemed irregular owing to the enormous size of a blue whale in comparison to a white shark. Based on the findings, we can deduce that despite being the largest mammals on earth, blue whales can face threats or attacks from other predators like white sharks, especially when they are vulnerable or in a foreign environment.

Conclusion

Due to their enormous sizes, blue whales use buoyancy rather than skeletons to move and remain submerged in water.

It’s not just a blue whale’s exterior that is large. The blue whale’s mouth is extremely big. In addition, various internal organs, such as their hearts, weigh more than 600 kilos (1322 lbs), while their brains weigh six times more than human brains! Their lung capacity allows them enough oxygen to sustain them for close to an hour in deep water.

Despite their large sizes, blue whales are not dangerous mammals. Generally, they are non-violent and only behave aggressively under threatening circumstances such as attacks.

Currently, blue whales are considered endangered species. Even as we learn more about their sizes and other characteristics, scientists and the entire world endeavor to protect these large and precious mammals.

Well, now you are properly informed about blue whale size. Please use the comments section to ask any questions you have about blue whale size.

Picture in this post is by Georg Wolf on Unsplash