WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Do Blue Whales Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to BrainStuff, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, BrainStuff. Lauren Vogelbaum here with another classic episode of

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<v Speaker 2>the show for you. In this one, we dip into

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<v Speaker 2>the amazing lives of blue whales, which are the biggest

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<v Speaker 2>and one of the loudest animals our world has ever known.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, BrainStuff. Lauren Vogelbaum here.

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<v Speaker 2>Dating back to the days of woolly mammoths, humans have

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<v Speaker 2>been obsessed with larger-than-life mammals— And on the aquatic front,

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<v Speaker 2>there's no bigger mammal than the blue whale, which is

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<v Speaker 2>the largest known animal to ever grace the planet. No

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<v Speaker 2>evidence has been found that any other creature, even the

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<v Speaker 2>largest of dinosaurs, surpassed the blue whale in size. But wait,

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<v Speaker 2>what about the megalodon, the extinct shark species believed to

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<v Speaker 2>be the largest fish on the planet, and which you

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<v Speaker 2>may recall from the 2018 horror movie The Meg? Well,

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<v Speaker 2>scientists guessed that even the biggest megalodon only reached a

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<v Speaker 2>mere 58 feet in length, though some argue it was

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<v Speaker 2>up to 82 feet. That's 18 up to 25 meters.

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<v Speaker 2>By contrast, the largest blue whales clock in at a

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<v Speaker 2>little more than 100 feet or 30 meters long, and

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<v Speaker 2>on average are between 70 and 90 feet in length.

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<v Speaker 2>That's 23 to 27 meters. And their average weight is

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<v Speaker 2>approximately 400,000 pounds. That's 181,000 kilograms or about 200 tons. Females,

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<v Speaker 2>by the way, tend to be larger than males. The

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<v Speaker 2>largest blue whales live in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.

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<v Speaker 2>A blue whale's tongue alone weighs as much as an elephant.

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<v Speaker 2>About 100 people could fit in a blue whale's mouth.

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<v Speaker 2>A blue whale's heart is the size of a car,

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<v Speaker 2>its eye is the size of a basketball, and a

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<v Speaker 2>small child could swim through its arteries. The spray from

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<v Speaker 2>a blue whale's blowhole is almost as tall as a

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<v Speaker 2>three-story building that's about 30 feet or 9 meters high.

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<v Speaker 2>These aptly named whales are blue-gray in color with lighter

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<v Speaker 2>gray patches that resemble splotches of paint, though they also

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<v Speaker 2>go by sulfur-bottom whale due to their yellowish underbelly. The

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<v Speaker 2>blue whale is part of the baleen whale family, a

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<v Speaker 2>group of toothless whales.

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<v Speaker 1>It has, instead of teeth, plates of thick, coarse.

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<v Speaker 2>Bristles in its mouth that it uses to catch food.

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<v Speaker 2>These are called black baleen, or whalebone, and a single

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<v Speaker 2>whale might have up to 800 plates of the stuff

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<v Speaker 2>in its great mouth. Despite their massive size, blue whales

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<v Speaker 2>rely on very tiny two-inch crustaceans known as krill as

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<v Speaker 2>their staple meal. But boy, do blue whales eat a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of krill. We spoke with Adam Ratner, a marine

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<v Speaker 2>scientist with the Marine Mammal Center. He said, given their size,

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<v Speaker 2>blue whales rely on vast quantities of food. Using plates

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<v Speaker 2>of baleen to filter small zooplankton from the water, they

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<v Speaker 2>can consume up to six tons or 20,000 pounds.

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<v Speaker 1>That's over 5,000 kilograms of krill every day.

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<v Speaker 2>In one gulp, the blue whale can take in 125%

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<v Speaker 2>of its body weight of water and krill.

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<v Speaker 1>That's half a million calories.

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<v Speaker 2>Despite all the hubbub over their hefty size, not much

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<v Speaker 2>is known about blue whales' behaviors and social structures. Ratner said,

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<v Speaker 2>We do tend to see blue whales traveling alone or

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<v Speaker 2>in small groups. In terms of behavior in the wild,

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<v Speaker 2>they don't tend to be very belligerent to each other

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<v Speaker 2>or other animals, but rather focused on feeding or migrating.

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<v Speaker 2>But again, behavior during breeding season could be very different

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<v Speaker 2>and is still in need of more research. But marine

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<v Speaker 2>biologists are studying one way that blue whales communicate.

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<v Speaker 1>With each other, sound.

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<v Speaker 2>Ratner said blue whales produce one of the loudest sounds

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<v Speaker 2>in the animal kingdom, a low rumble that can be

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<v Speaker 2>heard hundreds of miles and even reported to be thousands

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<v Speaker 2>of miles away in the ocean.

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<v Speaker 1>Researchers are still unsure of.

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<v Speaker 2>The meaning of the vocalizations, though, with best guesses being

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<v Speaker 2>around finding mates or signaling opportunities for mating or feeding.

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<v Speaker 2>Along with studying whale behavior, scientists use whale vocalizations to

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<v Speaker 2>estimate whale population sizes. When these whale calls are repeated

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<v Speaker 2>in a sequence, they become known as songs. They often

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<v Speaker 2>repeat sequences vocalized by other blue whales and add riffs

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<v Speaker 2>of their own, sort of like whale memes or pop music.

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<v Speaker 2>We also spoke with John Kalambokidis, a co-founder of the

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<v Speaker 2>nonprofit Cascadia Research and a research biologist who has conducted

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<v Speaker 2>extensive studies on the movement of blue whales. He explained,

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<v Speaker 2>we've recently discovered these very loud calls are produced only

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<v Speaker 2>by males, indicating it plays some role in mating or

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<v Speaker 2>in competition with other males. He notes that blue whales

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<v Speaker 2>will also form male-female pairs during mating season, with the

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<v Speaker 2>female leading the pair. Competition for mates can also get

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<v Speaker 2>a little intense, apparently. Kalambodakis said, there's also competition involving

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<v Speaker 2>high-speed swimming that occurs when more than one male is involved.

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<v Speaker 2>Blue whales can adjust the frequency of their songs by

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<v Speaker 2>changing the speed at which they blow air through their

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<v Speaker 2>vocal cords. Some researchers think they can do this intentionally,

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<v Speaker 2>as they've observed a gradual reduction in the frequency of

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<v Speaker 2>blue whale calls over the years, perhaps in reaction to

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<v Speaker 2>noisy conditions caused by objects like passing ships. A female

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<v Speaker 2>blue whale might give birth to a single baby calf

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<v Speaker 2>every two to three years.

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<v Speaker 1>Each pregnancy lasts around 11 months.

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<v Speaker 2>These blue whale babies typically are a whopping 25 feet long,

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<v Speaker 2>around eight meters, and weigh 7,000 pounds, or over 3,000 kilograms,

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<v Speaker 2>which is heavier than a mid-sized SUV. Ratner said, the

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<v Speaker 2>milk from their mothers is so nutritious that the calves

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<v Speaker 2>gain 200 pounds, that's 90 kilograms, a day nursing. A

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<v Speaker 2>blue whale's average lifespan is 80 to 90 years. However,

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<v Speaker 2>their existence is increasingly under threat. Blue whales are currently

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<v Speaker 2>listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. As commercial

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<v Speaker 2>whale hunting took off in the early 1900s, blue whales

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<v Speaker 2>dropped from a pre-whaling population of 250,000 to an estimated

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<v Speaker 2>10,000 to 25,000 individuals alive presently. Most of the decrease

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<v Speaker 2>has been observed in the Southern Hemisphere, where blue whales

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<v Speaker 2>were previously the most numerous. We also spoke with Jeff Jacobson,

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<v Speaker 2>a marine biologist with the Noyo Center for Marine Science.

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<v Speaker 2>He said, for some reason, blue whales were not as

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<v Speaker 2>impacted by whaling along the California coast, and we have

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<v Speaker 2>at least 2,000 individuals here. the population is still recovering

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<v Speaker 2>around Antarctica. He said that whales still remain highly vulnerable

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<v Speaker 2>to collisions with ships, perhaps because more krill sometimes appear

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<v Speaker 2>in shipping lanes. Other challenges facing the blue whale include

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<v Speaker 2>entrapment in fishing gear and climate change affecting the mammals'

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<v Speaker 2>food sources. But there are some organizations working to make

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<v Speaker 2>habitats safer for blue whales. Ratner says that the Marine

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<v Speaker 2>Mammal Center has addressed policies about changing shipping lanes in

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<v Speaker 2>San Francisco Bay in order to reduce the likelihood of

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<v Speaker 2>boats impacting migrating whales. He also said that, quote, individuals

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<v Speaker 2>around the world can make a huge difference by examining

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<v Speaker 2>their carbon footprint and working within their communities, neighborhoods, schools

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<v Speaker 2>and work to reduce their use of fossil fuels like coal,

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<v Speaker 2>oil and natural gas for energy and transportation, as well

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<v Speaker 2>as reducing their use of single-use plastics, one of the

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<v Speaker 2>most commonly found items of ocean trash that can pose

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<v Speaker 2>a threat of entanglement or ingestion for large whales. Like

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<v Speaker 2>many marine mammals, blue whales migrate as the seasons change,

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<v Speaker 2>but you can find them all over the globe, in

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<v Speaker 2>every ocean except the Arctic, and both on coastal shelves

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<v Speaker 2>and deeper waters. Ratner explained that the whales typically migrate

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<v Speaker 2>toward the north and south poles, heading into cooler waters

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<v Speaker 2>in the summer to feast, then back toward the equator

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<v Speaker 2>in the winter to breed. But Kalambokidis adds that the

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<v Speaker 2>blue whale's migration patterns are slightly more flexible than other

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<v Speaker 2>baleen whales, like the gray whale. This is mainly because

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<v Speaker 2>blue whales are always in search of food to satisfy

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<v Speaker 2>their large appetites, so their movements are geared more toward

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<v Speaker 2>finding food sources than adhering to strict migratory patterns. Although

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<v Speaker 2>there are a number of distinct blue whale populations, they

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<v Speaker 2>can broadly be grouped into those that reside in the

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<v Speaker 2>northern hemisphere and those that are found in the southern hemisphere.

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<v Speaker 2>One of the larger populations in the northern hemisphere is

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<v Speaker 2>the estimated 2,000-some blue whales that feed off the coast

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<v Speaker 2>of California and migrate to Costa Rica and Mexico.

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<v Speaker 1>It's somewhat difficult to track them because satellite.

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<v Speaker 2>Tagging that you might use on other marine mammals like

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<v Speaker 2>sea lions could cause skin infection in the whales. Scientists

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<v Speaker 2>studying whales will often use a more basic photo identification

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<v Speaker 2>system to keep track of specific blue whales around the

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<v Speaker 2>world because they each have unique markings on their skin

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<v Speaker 2>that can be used to keep track of them. And

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<v Speaker 2>for some good news, according to the International Union for

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<v Speaker 2>Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, blue whale

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<v Speaker 2>numbers have likely gone up in recent decades. So things

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<v Speaker 2>seem to be looking up for the blue giant. Today's

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<v Speaker 2>episode is based on the article, The Blue Whale, Bigger

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<v Speaker 2>Than Megalodon, on HowStuffWorks.com, written by Tara Yarlagada. BrainStuff is

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<v Speaker 2>a production of iHeart Podcasts in partnership with HowStuffWorks.com and

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<v Speaker 2>is produced by Tyler Klang. For more shows from iHeart Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 2>visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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<v Speaker 2>listen to your favorite shows.