Cool Facts about Blue Whales

The blue whale is considered to be the largest animal ever known to have lived on Earth! That's no small feat.

Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the 20th century. Between 1900 and the mid-1960s, some 360,000 blue whales were slaughtered. They were on the brink of extinction until they finally came under protection with the 1966 International Whaling Commission, but they've managed only a minor recovery since then.

Blue whales have few predators but are known to fall victim to attacks by sharks and killer whales, and many are injured or die each year from impacts with large ships.

They are currently listed as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, although their numbers are slowly increasing.

Watch the video to learn more cool facts about these gigantic creatures!