Big, Not Bad
By: Anneliese Zhu
Introduction
Imagine yourself living at the coast of California, or Baja California, Mexico. You’re resting your arms on the railing of your balcony. Then, all of a sudden, WHOOSH!, a stream of water sprouts out. Soon after, a large gray-ish blue tail bursts through the water, contrasting greatly among the calm glittering water. You’ve just experienced the biggest animal on Earth, the blue whale. You may know the basic facts, like what it eats, but do you know how it eats? Probably not. The blue whale has an interesting habitat, fascinating qualities, and a simple and consistent diet.
Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming
If you see a blue whale somewhere in the world, don’t be surprised. The blue whale has a wonderful and slightly dangerous habitat. This gentle giant is found in every ocean in the world. The blue whale is normally found in a small group or alone. Surprisingly, blue whale populations in the Southern Hemisphere are larger than in the Northern Hemisphere. However, you can frequently see this colossal creature in the gulf of St. Lawrence, off the coasts of Monterey, or Baja California in Mexico. In the summer, blue whales migrate into polar waters, feeding on shrimp-like crustaceans called krill. On the other hand, during winter, these whales move toward the Equator to breed and mate. One thing that makes this mammal slightly frightening is the fact that they don’t have any natural predators in the ocean. But young blue whales are more vulnerable and new to their fresh home. Killer whales like to take advantage of this fact. The babies are ganged and, using their killer whale intelligence, team up and kill this large animal. Besides killer whales, human were also once a predator of the blue whale. Whale hunters were called whalers and they caught and killed the whales for their teeth, blubber, and meat. Blubber is the fat that keeps the large creature from freezing to death. The blue whale was hunted to near extinction. Fortunately, people started to realize what they were doing and stopped after a period of time. Whales are now thriving and they will hopefully continue to.
Whose Better: Humans or Whales?
I'M HUNGRY!
Do you really believe that this harmful beast is actually carnivorous? This spectacular whale has an interesting diet and way of eating. Despite the fact that it doesn’t have proper teeth, blue whales survive off of a diet that is mainly composed of krill and the occasional small fish. As mentioned earlier, the blue whale doesn’t have the right teeth to eat meat. How do you think it would survive then? This grandiose individual feeds by swimming up towards a shoal of prey. Thankfully, the pleats on their necks tallows their throat to expand. The blue whale takes a enormous gulp of water that is put into a sac, which is located in the lower jaw. This extraordinary whale then shuts its mouth and expels the water, but traps thousands of tiny creatures, thanks to their find baleen plates. Baleen is a filter-feeder system inside the mouths of baleen whales. The baleen system works when a whale opens its mouth underwater and the whale takes in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are then trapped by the teeth and is swallowed. The blue whale then enjoys yet another meal, Can you imagine eating six tons of fish being consumed every single day? During the summer, whales tend to live up to this expectation. However, while they migrate, these unique creatures will barely eat anything at all. Blue whales are wonderful creatures that also have wonderful eating habits.
*Cue the fancy voice*
The blue whale has an interesting habitat, a well throughout eating pattern, and amazing qualities. Unfortunately, the ginormous beast has also been hunted and this fantastic animal is still endangered. Now, the world has started to appreciate the beauty of blue whales and have protected them. Hopefully, we can all enjoy how elegant and lovely the blue whale is and adore the wonderful beast that has almost been wiped from the surface of the Earth.
Word Wall
Go Fish
During our Australia units, I went to many workshops , including one called Go Fish. At this workshop, my group was given a fake aquarium and budget to spend. I had one partner, Eva Lanius, who helped me choose and set up the specifics of the underwater tank. We ended up getting one Plecostomus, one Male Halfmoon Betta, two Blue Male Veiltail Bettas, one Black Molly, and one Sunburst Wag Platy. As you can see, my partner and I choose a fair amount of Bettas. We also had to chose a theme. I ended up with a dark, mysterious theme. To go with the theme, I bought a rock cave, a sunken horse ship, and some plants. I spent around $225 dollars and had 16 inches of fish in a 20 gallon tank.