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Today on Animal Fact Files, we’re talking about blue whales. Make a splash, be sure to subscribe! We’d like to thank hannah is my last name for today’s gigantic suggestion. Heck, gigantic doesn’t even begin to describe the immensity of these majestic beauties.

As far as science is currently aware, blue whales are the largest animals to have ever lived. Yes, bigger than a T-Rex, bigger than a megalodon, and way bigger than an elephant. It’s the ocean’s buoyancy that has allowed these animals to reach such massive proportions. The largest recorded weighed more than 35,000 Chesters, they can be more than two semi trucks long, and, in the blue whale world, ladies are often larger. These gargantuan sizes are obtained through eating some of the smallest animals in the world. Krill and other small crustaceans constitute the main diet of blue whales. During certain parts of the year, a blue whale may consume as much as four tons of krill in a single day. That’s like, an elephant worth of krill. Daily.

Even when they’re born baby blue whales top the big animal charts. At birth, a blue whale weighs about three tons, or y’know, like two small cars, and is a few feet longer than a shipping container. Oh, and during the months it’s nursing, it gains almost ten pounds (4.5 kilograms) per hour. That’s like gaining the weight of about 20 Chesters a day for at least six months. I can’t hold all these Chesters.

It takes five or more years before blue whales are ready to have babies of their own, and despite their hugeness, the females only gestate for about a year. Compared to the largest living land mammal, the African elephant, who gestates for twenty-two months, the short gestation period of blue whales is considered pretty unusual. Many blue whales migrate to warmer waters near the equator in order to give birth. Technically, blue whales are found in all the world’s oceans, but the blue whales in the southern hemisphere don’t really meet up with their northern hemisphere conspecifics because the seasons in the hemispheres are reserved. So while it’s summer in the northern hemisphere, and the northern hemisphere blue whales are (literally) chillin’ in the arctic eatin’ all the krill, the southern hemisphere blue whales are hanging out on the equator to avoid the freezing winter in the antarctic of the southern hemisphere. Not all blue whales migrate, though.

Groups of blue whales have been seen together, though most of the time they’re alone or traveling as two. Blue whale communicate with some of the loudest sounds recorded in the animal kingdom. Much like the cassowary’s impressive deep sounding vocals, blue whale can emit sounds louder than a jet engine that may reach more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across the ocean. That would be like being able to hear Chester’s screams for dinner from almost halfway across the United States, or Australia, or Japan.

Blue whales can live to be older than 100, though 85 is a closer average, and currently they’re endangered due to massive population declines caused by whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries. Their numbers, however, are increasing.

For more facts on blue whales, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up for the biggest animals on our planet, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.