Blue Whale

The Blue Whale Balaenoptera Musculus, or the blue whale, is the largest mammal in the world. This enormous mammal can grow to be 110 feet long and weigh as much as 190 tons. That's longer than two city buses and the total weight of 30 elephants. This giant is powered by a heart the size of a taxi-cab. The blue whale's of the Antarctic grow larger than those of the Northern Hemisphere. Also, the females tend to be …

…of the whale population. Among them are collisions with ships, entanglements in fishing gear, oil spills, pollution, coastal development, and human generated noise in the oceans. Yet the blue whale is increasing in visibility and in numbers off the California coast. There seems to be little good news about blue whales coming from the rest of the world's oceans. California waters may now represent some of the most critical large whale habitats in the world.