|
Exploring the Blue Whale
They are the largest creatures to ever live on our planet, even larger than any of the great dinosaurs, and still few people have seen them. National Geographic Channel will take viewers into the Kingdom of the Blue Whale on March 8. Tracking the scientists' efforts, the two-hour Kingdom of the Blue Whale special offers breathtaking HD footage of these majestic animals. The imagery captured of mother and baby blue whale is stunning and poignant.
Despite their size - up to 100 feet long and weighing as much as 200 tons - and wide distribution in the oceans of the world, little is known about the blue whale's reproductive lives but we do know their future is threatened. Blue whales in the Eastern North Pacific population once numbered thousands but over a century of whaling took its toll. The special takes viewers on a journey with the world's prominent blue whale experts to explore the little known wintering grounds and chart the migratory paths of these elusive gentle giants – vital information if they are to be protected.
Researcher John Calambokidis is one of the few people in the world who has been within an arm's length of the largest creature to ever inhabit the Earth and was part of a team of three scientists who participated in the scientific expedition off the coasts of California and Costa Rica in 2007/08 to learn more about blue whale migration patterns, feeding/breeding behaviours, and threats to their survival. While the film Kingdom of the Blue Whale focuses on a few months of research, Calambokidis has been working to unravel the mysteries of the blue whale since his first encounter with one in 1986 in the Gulf of the Farrallones north of San Francisco during a humpback whale survey.
With stunning underwater cinematography, CGI of the whale's internal body, high resolution maps and satellite imaging, all help tell this new chapter in the story of the blue whale.
WATCH IT !
Sunday 8 March 2009 |
|
"Kingdom of the Blue Whale"
airs on the National
Geographic Channel
(Comcast Channel 273) |
Blue Whale Facts
-
Can weigh as much as 200 tons and grow to 100 feet in length, making it the largest animal to ever inhabit the earth.
-
Consumes up to 4 tons of tiny, shrimp-like animals daily.
-
Cruises the ocean at about 6 miles per hour, but can travel up to 20 miles per hour when alarmed.
-
Has an average life span of 50 to 90 years.
-
One of the loudest animals on earth, making sounds that can travel through the water up to 1,000 miles.
-
Global population estimated at 10,000 to 25,000 animals. Roughly 90 percent of the blue whale population was killed by whaling before a 1960s ban on whaling.
|
