Why is the blue whale the largest animal?

Answer 1

Because God created them bigger than all fish with scales. Simple.

Answer 2

Why whales are so large. The standard answer is that the water holds up the huge weight of their bodies. An elephant's legs have to carry the weight of their body, but the water naturally does much of the work of an elephants legs. A less common answer is that their large size helps whales stay warm. It is much harder to stay warm in water than in air because water is far more dense than air. Many whales including the blue whale spend at least some time in cold artic or ant arctic water. Large size helps mammals stay warm because it increases their mass to surface ratio. Warm blooded animals lose heat through the surface of their bodies. They generate heat through the mass of their bodies. As surface area increases with the square of the animals length, and mass increases with the cube of the animals length the larger animal will have a greater mass as compared to its surface area. For example if two animals have the same shape but one is twice as large as the other, the larger will have four times the surface area, but eight times the mass. The larger animal will have to eat less compared to its mass to maintain a constant body temperature. The large mass of whales helps them stay warm in cold water. These answers do not contradict each other so both are no doubt part of the story, but probably not the whole story.

Answer 3

There are really two factors involved in the size of the baleen whale. First, because they are acquatic, they do not have a problem supporting their weight, as they would on land. The water supports their weight, no matter how heavy they become. No land animal (not even dinosaurs) has ever been able to get that large. Secondly, they have effectively unlimited food. The baleen feeding system is very efficient and allows the whales to filter out food from any volume of ocean water; they do not face the uncertainties of having to chase down and catch their prey. They just have to open their mouths and filter the water. Given these two factors, baleen whales have the opportunity to grow to enormous size, and evolution tends to drive animals to larger size when that is possible, because larger animals are able to dominate smaller animals. It is a successful adaptive strategy - to a point. In the case of whales, it has also made them very attractive to human hunters, so they do have a weakness, one which may even result in their eventual extinction. But then, no evolutionary strategy is perfect.

Answer 4

Evolution and natural selection, these processes have been behind all species development behind a common ancestor. Whales and humans share a common ancestor. Because of selective pressures we evolved into different species. The reason whales are the biggest creatures in the ocean is because they have advantageous traits that allow them to survive in their environment the way they are.

Answer 5

they are so big because there size is what makes them so powerful when they need to defend there selves from predator's.

Answer 6

It is because of their DNA, they are programmed that way, just like they have blow holes, and breath oxygen. It is the DNA. Their structure.

Answer 7

Because God created them bigger than all fish with scales. Simple.

Answer 8

Because it measures 30 metres (98 ft) in length and 180 metric tons (200 short tons.). That makes it the largest animal to wal... swim this earth!