In a supersized surprise for local cetacean experts, a massive blue whale with her calf in tow was caught on camera off Pakistan's coast recently. According to WWF-Pakistan, this is the first documented sighting of live blue whales in local waters.
A WWF-trained tuna fishermen filmed the whale pair while out on the water near the country's Churna Island, which lies in the Arabian Sea.
"According to the fisherman, the mother whale was around 17 metres in length, almost the same size as their fishing boat, whereas the calf surfaced rarely so its size could not be assessed," writes the WWF team of Facebook. Newborn blue whales make the biggest babies on the planet, weighing in at about four tonnes and reaching approximately eight metres in length.
In recent years, a number of dead blue whales have been reported in Pakistan's waters, but this is the first time live animals has been spotted.
Whale sighings in the region have been on the rise, thanks in part to WWF-Pakistan's "Fishing Crew Observer Programme", which teaches the country's skippers to identify local species, and to safely release non-target animals caught in their nets.
"The Arabian Sea is known to have a number of species of pelagic shrimp, which could be the reason for the presence of [the blue whales] in these waters," the team adds.
It's strange to think that the biggest animal on earth feeds on one of the smallest, but that's why blue whales have to nosh a lot of food to survive. According to experts, a single adult can gulp down about four tonnes of krill a day during certain times of the year:
Whales and Dolphins
Whales and Dolphins
Whales and Dolphins
