How much do you know about whales? Watch this week’s #STEMvee for 3 fun facts about whales!
Transcript: 71% of our world is made up of the ocean, so it only makes sense that the largest animal in the world is found there. The blue whale is the largest animal known to inhabit this planet. Yes! It is bigger than any dinosaur or mastodon and it is still alive today! How big is it? Well, you can say the blue whale is about the size of a Boeing 737 plane! They can grow up to 100 ft long and 144 tons..or about 24 elephants. The blue whale is so big, their heart is the size of a small car and a small child could crawl through the aorta. The tongue of a blue whale can be heavier than an elephant! There is another type of whale, the sperm whale. We use their “vomit” in perfume to smell nice. Whales eat large amounts of squids, and what the whale cannot digest, is vomited out. This mass of vomit floats in the ocean and over the years solidifies and becomes ambergris which has a sweeter scent. It is used as a base for perfume and finding a 7 pound piece can be worth more than $50,000! Finally, if you wonder how a whale’s age can be determined…wonder no longer! Scientists use whale earwax. During the summer, whales produce light colored earwax, when they migrate to warmer areas before winter, dark colored earwax is produced. Over time, this forms an earplug with alternating colors of light and dark layers, similar to a tree trunk. Using this information, scientists can estimate the age of a whale!
