First discovered by a team of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1989, the 52-hertz whale calls at an unusually high frequency. It’s unknown what species of whale it is, but the frequency closely resembles that of a blue whale or a fin whale.(source)
12 Known as “whale fall”, when a whale dies and its carcass falls into the bathyal or abyssal zone of the ocean floor, it can sustain a complex localized ecosystem of deep-sea organisms for decades.
Unlike when a whale dies in shallower waters where it will be consumed by scavengers relatively quickly, it can provide decades of sustenance for deep-sea organisms at depths of around 2,000 meters. In fact, the decomposition has three associated stages and can sustain different life forms for up to a century.(source)
13 Killer whales are tougher than great white sharks!
Orcas are known as “killer whales” and for good reason. They understand that great white sharks need to move to breathe and become immobilized when they are upside down. Orcas use this knowledge to their advantage when killing sharks.(source)
Known as “Atavism”, some whales are sometimes born with a genetic defect (legs) which is a throwback to many millions of years ago when their ancestors used to walk on land.(source)
15 A blue whale is pregnant for a year and can only have one baby at a time.
Blue whales have pregnancies very similar to humans, although on a much grander scale! Their pregnancy lasts one year, and they give birth to one baby weighing approximately 3 tons – reaching 25 feet in length. Newborn blue whales are known to drink 100 gallons of milk each day and gain approximately 9 pounds each hour. (source)
