Page 11 - OAS Magazine Q2 Summer

Blue whales seem to have cornered the market on super- latives. They are widely considered the largest animals to have ever existed, tipping the scales at over 150 tons, while feeding on up to 7,900 pounds of krill a day. They have hearts that weigh half a ton, and offspring that pack on 200 pounds of weight every day as they mature. In ad- dition to being big and hungry, blue whales have the dis-
tinction of being one of the loudest animals on the planet.
It’s a powerful advan- tage, especially in a murky undersea world where sight and smell are limited, and an ani- mal’s nearest neighbor might be hundreds of miles away. In fact, blue whale vocaliza- tions have been re- corded at 188 decibels from as far away as 500
miles. To give you a better idea of how loud that is, a jum- bo jet makes a sound of about 120 decibels at take off.
Like all baleen whales, the blue whale produces sound without having to exhale. Scientists believe that the whales recycle air through the cranial sinuses to emit the patterns of sounds that are often referred to as “songs.” But as loud as they can be, these vocalizations often go unheard by
PHOTOS BY: VANESSA MIGNON AND WYLAND
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