WE went to the Royal Ontario Museum or ROM to see Out of the Depths, The Blue Whale Story.
Click here to see the ROM's extensive post about the exhibit and the background.
The Toronto Star also has an interesting article.
Out of the Depths: The Blue Whale Story is a ROM original exhibition that retells the tragic story of 2014 and the unprecedented opportunity for research and conservation that resulted. Come face to face with the enormous eighty- foot skeleton of Blue, and discover the mind-blowing biology of blue whales; the humongous size of their heart, their unusual feeding behaviour, how they communicate and their evolution from land to sea. Find out how the ROM is studying their DNA to unlock some of the mysteries surrounding these large but elusive creatures, and gain insight into the global decline of the blue whale population and what is being done to protect the world’s largest animal…ever.
If you want a lot of details I suggest you read the two articles above, I'll show photos of what we saw.
It was mind boggling when you first stepped into the exhibit.
They had a scale to calculate how many of YOU would equal a blue whale.
A blowhole is the hole at the top of a Cetacean's head through which the animal breathes air. It is homologous with the nostril of other mammals. As whales reach the water surface to breathe, they will forcefully expel air through the blowhole. The exhalation is released into the comparably lower-pressure, colder atmosphere, and any water vapor condenses. This spray, known as the blow, is often visible from far away as a white splash, which can also be caused by water resting on top of the blowhole.
Appearance of baleen hair in a whale's open mouth
A whale's baleen plates play the most important role in its filter-feeding process. In order to feed, a baleen whale opens its mouth widely and scoops in dense shoals of krill together with large volumes of water. It then partly shuts its mouth and presses its tongue against its upper jaw, forcing the water to pass out sideways through the baleen, thus sieving out the prey which it then swallows.
They only eat krill. Here is a stunning video.
Despite being the largest living mammal in the world the blue whales primary diet consists almost exclusively of krill, a small oceanic creature that generally measure in at a measly 1-2 centimeters; although a few species of krill can grow close to 6 inches in size.
A jar of krill, the colour has faded since they died.
When it comes to eating food the blue whale can consume as many as 40 million krill per day, which ends up weighing close to 8,000 pounds of food on a daily basis!
It is the size of the Smartcar in the background.
There is an ad below for whale steak.