Table of Contents
How often does a blue whale eat?
An individual blue whale, for example, eats an average of 16 tons of food every day—about three times more than scientists had thought. (Learn more about the hidden world of whale culture.)
How do blue whales catch their prey?
When blue whales hunt for food, they filter feed by swimming toward large schools of krill with their mouth open and closing their mouths around the krill while inflating their throat pleats.
How often do whales eat?
DIET AND BALEEN Concentrated masses of prey are preferable for this method of feeding. An average-sized humpback whale will eat 4,400-5,500 pounds (2000-2500 kg) of plankton, krill and small, schooling fish each day during the feeding season in cold waters (about 120 days). They eat twice a day.
What is a blue whale lifespan?
80 – 90 yearsBlue whale / Lifespan (In the wild, Estimated)
How much do blue whales eat?
When it comes to eating food the blue whale can consume as many as 40 million krill per day, which ends up weighing close to 8,000 pounds of food on a daily basis! Note: Instead of krill the baby blue whale consumes milk during its first 6 – 18 months of birth and can drink as much as 150 gallons of milk per day during its first year.
How do blue whales eat krill?
While consuming krill, the blue whale may coincidentally swallow fish, crustaceans, and squid that happen to be swimming in or near the school of krill it is hunting. Regarding diving for food, the amount of time a blue whale dives generally last around 10 minutes, although these whales have been recorded staying submerged for up to half an hour.
Why do blue whales live in cold water?
Due to the fact that blue whales need to consume so much food they are almost always found swimming where large abundances of krill reside, which is typically in cold waters around the northern and southern polar hemispheres.
How big do blue whales get?
However, a few species of krill can grow close to 6 inches in size. Compared to the small size of krill, the blue whale can grow to be more than 100 ft. long (60 – 80 ft. on average) and weigh over 180 tons (100 – 150 tons on average)!