Blue whale

Amazing fact

The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to have lived on Earth.

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Blue whale in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to have lived on Earth.

SourceNOAA Fisheries — Blue whale

THE REAL WORLD

The real Blue whale

Scientific name: Balaenoptera musculus
Japanese name: シロナガスクジラ
Group: Ocean animals

Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Balaenopteridae
Genus: Balaenoptera

Facts about the real animal.

Where the name “Blue whale” comes from

The English name blue whale comes from its body appearing blue underwater.

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It mainly eats krill, filtering them from seawater with baleen plates.

NOAA Fisheries — Blue whale

Its long body has blue-gray mottling that differs between individuals.

NOAA Fisheries — Blue whale

How the Blue whale lives

They generally feed in polar waters in summer. They swim toward schools of krill with their mouths open. As winter arrives, they make long migrations toward equatorial waters.

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Basic data

Lifespan: about 80–90 years
Diet: Krill, fish and copepods
Range: All oceans except the Arctic Ocean

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Where the Blue whale has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesWorld oceans Ocean

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: シロナガスクジラ
简体中文: 蓝鲸
繁體中文: 藍鯨
한국어: 대왕고래
Español: Ballena azul
Français: Baleine bleue
Deutsch: Blauwal
Português (Brasil): Baleia-azul
Italiano: Balenottera azzurra
हिन्दी: Blue whale
العربية: حوت أزرق
Bahasa Indonesia: Paus biru
Tiếng Việt: Cá voi xanh
Русский: Синий кит
Türkçe: Gök balina
ไทย: วาฬสีน้ำเงิน
বাংলা: নীল তিমি
اردو: نیلی حوت

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

NOAA Fisheries — Blue whaleChecked: 2026-11-03

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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