Drone Shows That Blue Whale Is Larger Than An 87ft Boat

Have you ever seen a stunning blue whale up close? Maybe yes, but it probably wasn't as big as this one. Experts say the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, and this video shows that they are right, as this whale is over ninety feet long. In this case, a drone managed to film the exact moment that a huge blue whale passes the side of a whale-watching boat, which was full of tourists. Fortunately for everyone, today technology makes it easier to observe blue whales, for this reason, they used this drone to closely film all the movements of the huge blue whale. The observation boat is eighty-seven feet tall, and you can see that the whale is bigger than the boat, which is impressive. Blue whales are magnificent!

Today the number of whales in our waters remains low because they face other human-caused threats. But whales are critical to the health of the oceans. Why? It all comes down to two important things: Whale poop and decomposing bodies.

When the whales dive into the depths to feed and rise to the surface to breathe, they release huge fecal plumes. This whale pump carries essential nutrients from the depths of the ocean to surface waters, where it stimulates the growth of phytoplankton, the foundation of all marine food chains. So having more whales defecating in the oceans is very beneficial for the entire marine ecosystem.

Whales are also famous for making very long migrations. As they do so, they transport nutrients in their stool from where they are to where they need them. But they are also very important once they are dead. Whale bodies are one of the largest sources of debris that falls from the upper layers of the ocean and is called a whale drop. By sinking, these carcasses provide a feast for more than 400 species.

So in more than 200 years of whaling, by killing and removing their bodies from the oceans we have altered the rate and geographic distribution of these falls that would otherwise have descended to the ocean depths, and as a result, we have condemned to extinction a number of more specialized species that depended on these carcasses for their survival. Whales are also the forests of the oceans. Whales store carbon dioxide inside their bodies and when they kill them, they release much of this CO2. Just by growing large groups of whales, you can capture greenhouse gases in the same way that a forest is reforested.

So as you have deduced in the article, whale conservation is a simple, cheap and ecological way to fight against climate change and global warming. Likewise, a recent report by the International Monetary Fund has valued whales for their ability to absorb carbon dioxide efficiently.

There is no doubt that blue whales are very important to the planet, so we must take care of them. Everyone wishes they were on board that whale watching boat!

A giant 90ft Blue Whale filmed with a drone next to an 87ft whale watching boat. This unique view really shows just how large Blue Whales are!