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whalewatchers.net
Facts & Figures
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Cetaceans are amazing animals, so make sure your head
is full of facts, figures and records for your next whale-watching trip:
Largest:
female blue whale
- length 21 - 27m (69 - 89 feet);
weight 90 - 120 tonnes
- the largest
animal that has ever lived on Earth
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the largest
recorded female was 33.6m (110 feet)
long and weighed 190 tonnes
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Smallest:
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Hector's dolphin and vaquita
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1.2 - 1.5m (4 - 5 feet) |
Longest flippers:
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humpback |
4.6 - 5.5m
(15 - 18 feet) |
Tallest dorsal fin:
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male orca
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1.8m (6 feet)
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Longest baleen:
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bowhead |
3.1 - 5.2m
(10 - 17 feet)
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Thickest blubber:
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bowhead
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43 - 50cm
(17 - 20 inches)
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Fastest:
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orca and
Dall's porpoise
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55.5km/h (35mph)
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Deepest dive:
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sperm whale
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2,000m (6,500 feet)
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Longest dive:
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sperm whale
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2 hours 18 minutes
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Longest
migration:
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humpback |
8,640km
(5,400 miles) |
Loudest:
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blue whale and
fin whale |
188 decibels
(the loudest sound made by any animal) |
Tallest
blow/spout:
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blue whale |
15.1m (49 feet) |
Longest-lived:
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bowhead
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130 years
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Largest appetite:
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blue whale
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4 tonnes of krill/day (summer)
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Greatest
weight gain:
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blue whale
calf
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90kg/day
(198 pounds/day)
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Created by Gill Sinclair
Last updated:
26 November 2006
The images on
these pages must not be copied or saved without the express written permission of the copyright
owners.
Acknowledgements:
Carwardine, M. (1995) Whales
Dolphins & Porpoises, London: Dorling Kindersley
Carwardine, M. (1998) Whales &
Dolphins, Glasgow: HarperCollins
Carwardine,
M., Hoyt, E., Fordyce, R.E. and Gill, P. (1998)
Whales, Dolphins & Porpoises, Time Life Education
Carwardine,
M. (2006) Whales & Dolphins, London:
HarperCollins
Martin, A.R.
(1990) Whales & Dolphins,
London: Salamander Books
Macdonald, D. (2001)
The New Encyclopaedia of Mammals, Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (2003)
Fascinating Facts [Online], Available: http://www.wdcs.org/dan/publishing.nsf/allweb/E06650F16F2E05EE802568F90032E5BD
[16 November 2003]
Humpback flipper and sperm whale fluke photographs
from Carwardine, M. (1994) On the Trail of
the Whale, Guildford: Thunder Bay
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© Gill Sinclair 2003
© Mark Carwardine
© Gill Sinclair 2003