Where would you find the world’s largest animal?

Blue whales are the largest living animals. They are cosmopolitan creatures and are found in most of the seas, from the polar caps to the equator. Normally those which inhabit the colder seas will migrate to warmer waters in winter.

Their dimensions are almost beyond belief. Although figures can never be quite accurate, a blue whale can weigh more than 200 tons and may have been found measuring over 100 feet in length. The tongue alone, of a female whale found in Antarctica, weighed well over four tons.

It has been estimated that in the 1930s there were nearly 40,000 blue whales in the world. But by the end of the 1960s there were fewer than 1,000 alive. This was because they became popular victims for the misdirected efforts of overzealous hunters.