What is the largest animal in the world?
The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever lived. It can grow to about 30 meters long and weigh more than 150 tonnes, heavier than any dinosaur.
Blue whales live in every ocean. Their tongue alone can weigh as much as an elephant, and their heart is about the size of a small car. Even a newborn calf is around 7 meters long and gains as much as 90 kilograms a day while drinking its mother's milk.
Despite their size, blue whales eat some of the smallest animals in the sea: shrimp-like krill. They take huge gulps of water and push it out through baleen plates in their mouths, trapping the krill inside. An adult can eat several tonnes of krill a day in the feeding season.
Bigger than the dinosaurs
Some long-necked dinosaurs, such as Argentinosaurus, may have been as long as a blue whale, but scientists estimate they were lighter. Water supports a whale's weight, which allows it to grow larger than a land animal could. Commercial whaling nearly wiped out blue whales in the 20th century, and they are still listed as endangered.
Did You Know?
Blue whales are also among the loudest animals on Earth. Their low-frequency calls can travel hundreds of kilometers underwater, helping whales find each other across vast stretches of ocean.