Fascinating Facts
Largest:
The blue whale is the heaviest and longest animal on Earth. The average adult length is 25m (82ft) in males and 26.2m (86ft) in females, with body weights of 90-120 tonnes.
Smallest:
Hector´s dolphin is the world´s smallest cetacean. They may be only 1.2m (3ft11in) long when fully grown. Although, taking average lengths, the finless porpoise is probably the lightest weighing 30-45kg (66-69lbs); nearly 3000 finless porpoises would weigh roughly the same as one blue whale.
Tallest blow:
A “blow” or “spout” is the cloud of water droplets produced above a whale´s head when it blows out. The tallest blow belongs to the blue whale where blows of up to 12m (39ft 5in) have been reported.
Largest Appetite:
A blue whale eats up to 4 tonnes of krill everyday. This is equivalent to eating a fully grown African elephant every day.
Longest Dive:
Early whalers reported dive times of more than 2 hours for northern bottlenose whales.
Deepest Dive:
The sperm whale is believed to dive deeper than any other cetacean. They have been known to dive as deep as 2000m (6560ft)
Longest Lived:
One bowhead whale was reported to have been 130 years old when it died!
Heaviest Brain:
The sperm whale has the world´s heaviest brain which can weigh up to 9.2kg (20lb 5oz). This compares with the average 1.4kg (3lb 1oz) for the brain of an adult human.
Tallest dorsal fin:
The huge dorsal fin of the bull orca (killer whale) can reach a remarkable height of 1.8m (6ft), roughly as tall as a man.
Fastest:
A bull orca, has been timed swimming at 55km/h (34 mph) in the eastern North Pacific.
Blue whales by one of North Sailing´s boats. The boat is 16 meters long.
