Largest Animal Ever Lived: Blue Whale
Its scientific name is Balaenoptera musculus. But you know him by the names Blue Whale or Sky Whale, the unique giant of the seas. Of course, there is a reason why we call him a giant! Blue whales hold the title of the largest animal ever to live on earth with dimensions reaching 29.9 meters in their hands (or fins).
According to unofficial sources, there are blue whales whose size can reach 33.6 meters. And does he have a rival in this regard? If we meant the largest creature, even the Blue Whale's huge size would not be enough, an area of about 9 km2 occupying a honey mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) would be located opposite.
Blue whales can appear in all oceans, but when historical analysis of the points where they were seen, it is known that they are much more abundant in the southern oceans, and unlike many species of whales, they travel quite close to the coastline. Even the common minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in the same genus has been reported to be seen in our country.
Blue whales, which migrate to the northern hemisphere to feed, are searching for their mates on their way back. The matching mother blue whales go through the gestation process, which can last up to 11 months. When the gestation process ends, the world's heaviest cub takes its place in the waters.
One of the times when you can observe whales amateur is when they approach the surface of the water to breathe. Blue whales breathe 6 to 20 times over a period of 1 to 5 minutes on the surface of the water. After taking the largest breath in the world, they do dives that usually take 5 to 15 minutes.
Although blue whales are huge, their throats range from 10 to 20cm in diameter. This causes them to feed on krill (Euphausiacea), which we can call small crustaceans, rather than very large prey. So how do they feed?
Blue whales are located in the toothless whale (Mysticeti) subspecies, one of the two subsets in which modern-day whales are found. These toothless whales collect small prey, such as krill, at a certain point in the water, taking them into their big mouths in one move. But when they take krill in their mouths, they swallow too much water with them. This is a big problem because whales don't have gills that can throw this water out.
In order to overcome this problem, toothless whales have acquired the ability to feed with filters in the evolutionary process.
Maybe you've already witnessed this incident with a video you've seen before. Whales, which come to the surface by gaining speed from the depths of the Sea, open their mouths wide when they come to the surface of the water, filling their mouths with a large amount of water. Then, thanks to protein keratin strands called whale sticks, they filter the water in their mouths outward, ensuring that krill or other nutrients remain inside.
Of course, in order for them to do this, they also need to have very strong and elastic cheek muscles. As expected, in the evolutionary process, toothless whales have developed huge cheek muscles that support this method of feeding.
Looking to investigate the origins of this feature, researchers have discovered a new species in their study of Oligocene-era rocks in Washington. It turns out that whales of the maiabalaena nesbittae species discovered were actually completely toothless 33 million years ago.
But we know that the lineage of whales dates back much earlier. In light of this information, it can be said that the first whales with teeth lost their teeth due to the difference in their feeding patterns over time.
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