A Whale of a Tale!

A 70-foot blue whale washed ashore Thursday evining, Sept. 13, 2007, about 10 miles north of Ventura, Calif. Residents from all over Ventura and Santa Barbara counties flocked to the beach and braved the appalling stench of decay, to get an up close view of the giant mammal. Scientists estimated the whale’s weight at 100,000 lbs.

Blue whales are listed as an endangered species; it is estimated that only 12,000 are left in the world. The largest population of blue whales, consisting of approximately 3,000 whales, is found in the North Pacific Ocean. They migrate to the warm waters of Mexico and Central America in the winter to mate and give birth, and to the cool waters of California to Alaska to feed on the main staple of their diet, krill, in the summer.

A blue whale can eat up to 8,000 lbs. of krill each day.

The blue whales’ only natural predator is the Orca.