Blue whales, also known as (Balaenoptera musculus), are considered one of the largest animals today (NOAA). A blue whale can grow up to “80- 100 feet in length and may weigh up to 200 tons” (World Wild Life).
As shown in the figure A, a blue whale has a mottled bluish with broad flat head and a small dorsal fin located near the tail. Figure C furthers shows the morphology of a blue whale. A blue whale can have about “320 black baleen plates in the mouth, 2 blowholes, and many blue-gray white spots” (ZoomWhale). A blue whale is toothless, and this can be a problem when scientist tries to date the age of animal based on it’s teeth. However, it is estimated that a blue whale can expected to live past 50 years (NOAA and World Wildlife).
Figure A and Figure B
Blue whales tend to feed on krills in cold water at high latitudes during the summer time (WWF). On other hand during
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the winter, blue whales may migrated to warmer waters to breed and give birth (WWF) . The mating system for blue whale is not known by scientists, but a female blue whale will usually give birth to one calf every 2-3 years (World Wild Life). The blue whale’s gestation period is about 10-11 months (NOAA). This means blue whale is a K selected species and reproduce very slowly. This characteristic can make population more prone to extinction as results of habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, and overharvesting. Blue whale is listed by U.S Fish Wildlife as an endangered species since 06/02/1970. One of the reasons why blue whale population has suffered is due to historical commercial whaling. Commercial whaling takes back to the 1700s when industrializing countries, for examples Japan or the U.S, were becoming more dependent on oil. Blue whales were relentlessly hunted because “their blubber provided a source source of oil” (Whalefacts). Moreover, blue whales was a source of meat and clothing, which gave whales more commercials reason to be hunted for (Whalefacts). In Figure C, we can see the trend that the population blue whale has declined in last century.
Looking at Figure C, we can say more than 200,000 blue whales has been killed as results of overhunting. In 1966, the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling for blue whales, but illegal hunting still occurs (NOAA). While blue whales are no longer being threatened by overhunting, their population is drastically depleted. Like many other marine species, blue whales are being harm by many others factors today. This include collisions of ships, chemical pollution such as oil spills, and noise pollution from vessels (Eco). The population of blue whales is known to be around “10,000 to 25,000 ” (World Wild Life).
Figure C Graph from http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/ shows decline of blue whales in the last century.
NOAA confirms blue whales can still be found in every part of the ocean today. The purple shaded space on the map shows where blue whales have been found
Figure
D Like every species on the planet, blue whales play a ecological role in the food chain. If blue whales go extinct, the food web is disturbed and will have an negative effect on other species by allowing certain species to overpopulated and others to die off. If blue whales actually did went extinct, there may be greater amount of krills which consume phytoplankton The National Marine Fisheries has implemented recovery plans to protect these whales since 1998. One of the early conservation efforts was banning whaling, which hurted the economic productivity from commercial whaling (National Marine Fisheries Service). I believe putting an end to whaling is essential to preventing a decline in the blue whale population. The National Marine Fisheries Service has added regulations to protect whales from being injured by ship collisions or illegal hunted, which are good solutions to eliminating factors that has caused the decline in the blue whale population. This conservatory effort has allowed blue whales to be protected with “whale watching activities and vessel approach regulations in River and Gulf of St. Lawrence Canada and Northeastern U.S.” (National Marine Fisheries Service). According to National Marine Fishes Services, other aspect of the plan include “estimating blue whale population size and monitor the trends, identifying and protecting essential habitats, and acquiring more scientific information about ecology of whales” (National Marine Fisheries Service). According to National Marine FIshes Service, it is expected the recovery plan will costs up to 2.05 million dollars to carry out. Even with this recovery plan being in place for almost 17 years, the population of blue whales hasn’t recover. Ultimately, whaling has had an overwhelming impact on the blue whale population. Knowing how slowly whales might reproduce, recovery is very difficult. I do not have much hope in the success of saving the populations of blue whales primarily because there is still a lack of research to provide a better understanding of the whales. Many aspect of the blue whale’s ecology is yet to be discover. There are very misleading data about the exact population of blue whales and even reproductive behaviours. We also have yet to discover the extent in which whales are being affected by climate change and pollution. I believe the blue whale population will remain at the current population size of 10,000 to 25,000 if we continue to have whale watching to ensure whales are not being hunted or injured by collisions of ships.
One of the things this company claims is that the killer whales actually live longer in their care. According to the website Sea World of Hurt, this is completely false, killer whales in the wild have a similar life span to humans, they can live from anywhere to 50-100 years. Held captive, these animals hardly live past twenty-five years. In the wild, an orcas dorsal fin is straight, which is the way it should be. In captivity, you will mostly see their dorsal fins flopped over or completely collapsed.
Orca whales do not like to be taken from their family, held captive for many decades and put with other whales that they do not know. No other living organism on this planet would like to be put through the same thing. Orca whales are highly social animals, they are very intelligent, and are very emotional. If they are kept away from other whales, fed intermittently and received little attention from staff makes them get very emotional and can lead to death of people and the whales. Orca whales should not be held captive; they are beautiful creatures that are not great for people’s amusement and if they are treated poorly, they will act poorly.
These two types typically avoid each other at all costs. In the wild, orcas are predators, meaning they hunt down their food. The whole species has varied diets, depending on which region of the world they come from. “Resident whales feed on fish and squid. Transients feed on seals, sea lions, porpoises, and baleen whales” (Francis).
Although the trainers are not allowed to be in the water with them, the trainers still use the same tactics of training. Some of the tricks the whales practice on a daily basis are, waving, showing off their teeth, laying on their side, and squirting water out of their blow hole. The shows still consist of the same concepts and the crowds continue to pay to see the whales do tricks. Whales living in captivity remain in distress and continue to lash out at trainers and other whales in their pools (10 Things You Didn’t
The Killer Whale is a part of the toothed whale (odontoceti) suborder. The toothed whale suborder is consisted exclusively of porpoises, whales and dolphins that are born with teeth, instead of baleen plates. The Killer Whale is the largest animal in the dolphin family and is the only known to attack sharks, whales and other marine mammals.
How would you feel if your mother was murdered directly in front of you and you were only a few weeks old and you did not know how to fend for yourself? That's what these poacher are doing of these whales. They look for mother with fairly new calves because it means they have more fat on them. The more fat the more oil they produce which makes for more money. In Greenland they kill at most ten whales a year. While in Japan they kill five hundred and thirty to seven hundred
Imagine being at home enjoying quality time with your family when all of a sudden someone comes into your home and takes you to prison for the rest of your life. No explanation, no warning, and no communication with your family, ever again. In a single moment you have lost your family, your home, and your freedom. That is a very scary thought, yet that is exactly what is happening to killer whales. We, as a society, are going to the ocean, and taking killer whales away from their home, and their families for the sole purpose entertaining us. These beautiful, majestic animals are suffering physically, mentally, emotionally, and they are dying prematurely because of our selfish actions. Mahatma Gandhi said “The greatness of a society
Whales generally live 20-40 years and usually have a 9-15 month gestation that leads to usually 1 offspring("Whales"). Since whales are mammals whom live underwater, they have to plan when they breach to the surface to breathe through their blowholes. It is very difficult for whales to sleep because " they can not afford to fall into an unconscious state for too long, since they need to be conscious to break the surface in order to breathe"("Whales"). Whales use echolocation to detect their surroundings and communicate with other whales. When whales communicate they use lyrical sounds. It is also believes that whales slap their tails to warn other whales about danger("Whales"). Back in the the days before oil drilling, people killed whales and used the blubber of a whale for oil. Now they have to face the dangers of poaching, climate change, and underwater sonar testing("Whales"). Many people whale watch when humpback whales visit each year from November to
In the article found on the website of the "International Whaling Commission" indicates that "ship strike are an international problem that requires improved knowledge of behavior and movements of cetaceans and vessels". I think that while the number of ships increases in the ocean and due to the big size of the blue whales there are more possibility to have a ship strike when the whales can be injured or die. For example: a ship strike will be similar to a car accident, sometimes the people could survive to the injury but is most possible that they die
The sea is especially to the whales as the air is to birds as we know, we can not put the birds in the water and make them a life because each one of the animals created to be in their own environment only. Whales need that environment is to be free and can move up and down and side to side in the sea. The very nature of these animals makes them unique in the wild. Releasing any animal from wild life it not always a successful alternative for them.
The Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, is part of the marine mammals group. They are found in oceans all over the world, they live in open waters. Even though they are mammals, they do not live on land (Monterey Bay Aquarium). Humpback whales are known for their magical song that can travel great distances. These gentle giants are omnivores, their main diet is krill. They are mostly found near coastlines feeding on tiny shrimp-like krill, plankton and small fish. Humpbacks migrate annually from summer feeding grounds near the poles to warmer winter breeding water closer to the Equator. Humpback whales are powerful swimmers, and they use their massive tail fin, called a fluke to propel themselves through or even out of the water! Mothers and their young swim close together, often touching one another with their flippers with what appears to be gestures of affection. Even though it takes more than one year for a humpback whale to grow fully, mother whales leave them after one year (National Geographic).
...nd also the earth. If whales become extinct then there could be a rapid increase of small aquatic animals that could harm the marine food chain then further kill marine ecosystems. This is because whales help regulate the flow of food by helping to maintain a stable food chain.
The 19th century brought steam and diesel powered boats as well as an exploding harpoon gun to catch even more whales than in the past for oil and meat. Despite drastically low numbers, whaling continued in the 20th century until only 10 percent of blue whales were left. As a result, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was created in an effort to regulate whaling before it was too late. In 1966, the IWC banned the killing of blue whales and placed restrictions on others (Earle, 2009, p. 43). In the 20th century, Japan killed the second highest number of whales at 21 percent after Norway at 27 percent (Earle, 2009, p. 42). Unlike cows, herbivores that are killed after a few years, whales live for decades and are not replenished, leading
In Iceland the domestic whale that is served is the Minke Whale that is not in any way endangered and is the most abundant whale today. In order to keep it that way the government of Iceland must put regulations in place so that it does not face a repeat of what was experienced when the whaling industry started over developing and bringing the near extinction of many whales bringing us back to the problem of “over whaling”. The truth is that even the iucn red list of endangered species agrees with the fact that in the past iceland managed to have a sustainable minke whaling with stating that “About 4,000 minke whales were taken off Iceland during 1941-85, but recent abundance estimates imply that this would have had no discernible effect on the
One must also take into account the nature of blue whales. Dolphins, orcas and sperm whale are gregarious, social animals by default. However, blue whales live solitary lifestyles. This might be 52’s preferred style of