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Reblog
blue sea animal illustration scientific illustration boat
A. Blue Whale - Balaenoptera musculus
B. Humpback Whale - Megaptera novaeangliae
The blue whale is so large that when they’re born, they’re already as heavy as a full-grown hippopotamus, and a diver could easily swim through their largest blood vessels. It’s hard to comprehend their size without being near one…even their skeletons just seem so surreal that it’s hard to see it as a living being.
Humpback whales aren’t as huge, but are just as fascinating. Their song is a beautiful ethereal melody, and they’re definitely some of the most social (with each other and with humans) of the baleen whales.
If anyone likes funny contemporary novels, with a lot of real cetacean science (specifically about humpback whales) and a lot of bizarre science-fiction, I have to recommend Fluke: I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore. It’s a quick read that’s worth the time.
Field Book of Giant Fishes. J. R. Norman and F. C. Fraser, 1986.
(via scientificillustration)
