What is the world's largest fish?
The harmless whale shark holds the title of largest fish, with the record being a 59 footer captured in Thailand in 1919.
Military sonar technology causes beachings
Submarines have been using low and mid-frequency active sonar technology, a deafening soundwave that is dangerous even 300 miles from it's source. Some mid-frequency sonar systems can put out over 235 decibals, which is about as loud as a rocket launch.
Animals for hundreds of miles literally jump out of the ocean to try to avoid the sound. The damaging effects vary, bet are akin to decompression sickness causing internal bleeding and bursting organs including lungs and eardrums. When beached dolphins are reported this sonar technology is rarely mentioned in the news, although the link has been demonstrated.
What can you do? learn more here
(update: court blocks sonar 7/6/06)
Beachings linked to military low-mid frequency active sonar
Mass beachings have been associated with active sonar
have occurred in Madeira (2000), Greece (1996), the U.S. Virgin Islands (1998, 1999), the Canary Islands (1985, 1988, 1989, 2002), and, northwest coast of the United States (2003).update: court blocks sonar 7/6/06
LFA is low frequency active sonar
LFA stands for Low Frequency Active sonar, a technology used by submarines to "see." Unfortunately even one hundred miles from the source of a LFA source animals experience the equivalent of decompression sickness, killing every dolphin, porpoise, orca, and whale within 100-300 miles, depending on the decibal. It's no good for humans either.
Artic legend man talks to animals
There are arctic legends that speak of a time when man could understand and speak with whales. In fact, many legends worldwide speak of a time when people and animals understood each other.
Blue whale weight and length
Blue whales reach between 70-110 feet in length and weigh up to 150 tons.
Biggest animal in the world
The blue whale is the largest animal in the world. The largest blue whale caught was a 110-foot female. It is not
known how the angler got this beast home or how they fit it in the freezer.
Blue whale massacre crustaceans
The blue whale, the worlds largest animal at 110 feet according to guiness world records eat krill, which are shrimp-like crustaceans only about an inch-and-a-half long.
Pick on somebody your own size? Not whales! An adult whale might slaughter 40 million, or 4-6 tons of these little creatures in one day!!
Amazingly, the krill population persists, but you have to assume this perpetual atrocity affects the krills ability to develop a stable society.
Animal sonar, echolocation, and noise pollution
Whales and dolphins have a tool called echolocation, a sonar which allows them to "see" their prey, even it's internal workings! Noise pollution in the water has a significant effect on whales ability to navigate, hunt, locate their pods, and reproduce.
Echolocating animals have two ears positioned slightly apart. The echoes returning to the two ears arrive at different times and at different loudness levels, depending on the position of the object generating the echoes. The time and loudness differences are used by the animals to perceive direction. With echolocation the bat or other animal can see not only where it's going but can also see how big another animal is, what kind of animal it is, and other features as well. - wikipedia
Many modern submarines use their own sonar a low and mid-frequency sonar is so deafening the pressure waves affect animals on the cellular level, causing the equivalent of "the bends" or decompression sickness. For animals with echolocation this causes sonar function to fail and leaves these animals blind, if they're lucky. What often results is massive beachings (update: court blocks sonar 7/6/06)
Why are whales bad for you?
Beluga whales are at the top of the food chain. A nice distinction, but it also means they acquire the sum total of toxins acquired by organisms all the way down the chain because these toxins such as PCB and heavy metal poisoning don't break down. Belugas, in fact, are so full of contaminants, when they are found beached they qualify as a toxic biohazard.
beluga whales are toxic biohazards
Beluga whales are at the top of the food chain. A nice distinction, however, it also means they acquire the sum total of toxins in the organisms in that chain. Since PCBs and heavy metals don't break down in any organism they accumulate instead.
So when a Beluga eats a salmon that ate a crustacean that grubbed on some plant, all the PCBs and heavy metals that these organisms absorbed end up in the beluga.
Belugas, in fact, are so full of contaminants, when they are found beached they qualify as a toxic biohazard.
What is the world's largest animal?
The world's largest mammal, the blue whale, weighs 50 tons at birth. Fully grown, it weighs as much as 150 tons.
What is the most expensive dinner a whale ever ate?
The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later they were both eaten by a killer whale.
What is the largest dolphin?
The orca, also called the killer whale, is actually the largest member of the dolphin family, not a true whale in the everyday sense.
What is the largest fish in the world?
The whale shark is the largest fish in the world and can grow longer than 40 feet, but it feeds mostly on tiny plankton and is harmless to humans.
What is the largest animal that has ever lived?
The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever lived. It can reach about 100 feet long and weigh around 200 tons, more than any dinosaur.
How big is a blue whale's heart?
A blue whale's heart weighs about 400 pounds, roughly the size of a golf cart, according to scientists who preserved one in 2014.
Why do humpback whales sing?
Male humpback whales sing long, complex songs, likely to attract mates, and these songs change over time and can spread across entire ocean basins like a hit song.
How long can whales live?
Bowhead whales can live more than 200 years. Some have been found with old harpoon tips from the 1800s still lodged in their bodies.
Which animal has the largest brain?
The sperm whale has the largest brain of any animal on Earth, weighing around 17 pounds.
When was commercial whaling banned?
The International Whaling Commission put a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling into effect in 1986 after many whale species had been hunted close to extinction.
What land animal are whales most closely related to?
Whales evolved from four-legged land mammals, and their closest living relative is the hippopotamus.
What is a whale fall?
When a whale dies and sinks to the ocean floor, its body becomes a "whale fall" that can feed entire deep-sea ecosystems for decades.
What is the "loneliest whale"?
The "52-hertz whale" is an unidentified whale that calls at an unusually high frequency other whales may not respond to, which earned it the nickname "the loneliest whale in the world."
What is baleen made of?
Baleen whales filter food through baleen plates made of keratin, the same material as human fingernails and hair.
Has the waterphone been used to communicate with whales?
The waterphone has been used in attempts to communicate with whales.
What eats giant squid?
Sperm whales eat giant squid and often have sucker scars from fighting them.
What does "narwhal" mean?
"Narwhal" comes from an Old Norse word meaning "corpse whale."
Did Lewis and Clark visit Cannon Beach?
Members of the Lewis and Clark expedition traveled near Cannon Beach in 1806 to see a beached whale.