The Antarctic blue whale is the largest animal in the world, but how big is it? In this article, we’ll go over a full size comparison of blue whales with everything from humans to megalodons!
When it comes to something as large as a 10-story building, it can be difficult to comprehend. Especially when this “something” is a whale living in the ocean, in which you swim and play.
To help you better understand why the blue whale is the largest animal in the world, we’ve created images below comparing the blue whale to some of the largest animals that have ever lived.
Types of blue whales and their sizes
The Antarctic blue whale is not only larger than other land and sea animals, but also larger than other blue whales!
In recent years, there has been a debate in the scientific community about what exactly makes a blue whale a blue whale. However, there are currently five different subspecies of blue whales known, each of which is the largest animal in the world, but still vary in size. This includes:
- Antarctic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia)
- Blue whales of the North Atlantic and Pacific Ocean (Balaenoptera musculus musculus)
- Dwarf blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda)
- Blue whales of the northern Indian Ocean (Balaenoptera musculus indica)
- Blue whales of the South Pacific
The largest of these are Antarctic blue whales, weighing about 330,000 pounds, or 165 tons. The largest blue whale ever recorded weighed 418,878 pounds. Not sure how hard it is? The entire Statue of Liberty weighs only about 150 tons!
Blue whale vs. Comparison of human sizes
It’s easy to forget how big a blue whale is compared to a human, until you find out that only a blue whale’s tail is 25 feet wide – almost 5 times the size of an average human!
If you took a blue whale from the ocean and put it on a regular professional baseball field, it would be slightly longer than the distance from home court to first base. On the other hand, people are hardly taller than the width of the test box.
Some museums even have replicas of blue whale hearts for visitors to crawl through!
And since blue whales are as long as two school buses (sometimes even longer), they can potentially carry up to 80 people. While it can be a little tricky to find a saddle large enough to hold one of these massive sea creatures.
Comparison of sizes of blue whale and megalodon
The megalodon was the largest shark ever to exist, but how does it compare to a blue whale?
The answer is “not difficult.”
There is no doubt that the megalodon was huge. In fact, according to the estimates of the researchers, they were at least 20 times more than the great whites today, with potential 50 times more… At 50 times the size of a 5,000 pound shark, the megalodon will also be considered one of the largest animals in history.
But they are still not as big as the blue whale.
The largest megalodon in history is estimated at approximately 250,000 pounds. The smallest adult blue whale typically weighs around 290,000 pounds.
However, getting a true comparison with such large numbers can be tricky. After all, when people only weigh a few hundred pounds, it can be difficult to wrap your head around something that weighs as much as thousands of people.
Since the megalodon has become extinct for millions of years, it can be difficult to get an accurate average of their duration. However, most scientists believe they can grow to over 50 feet in length, with the longest estimates reaching 67 feet. This means that the megalodon is between the school bus and the Uhaul moving truck, shorter than a blue whale.
Size Comparison of Blue Whale and Brontosaurus
When you think of prehistoric dinosaurs, brontosaurus may be one of the largest that comes to mind. After all, these gentle giant dinosaurs were known for their long necks, which allowed them to graze on leaves with ease (like a modern giraffe!).
Like the Megalodon, we do not have access to much specific information about the size of the Brontosaurus. However, we were able to estimate that they were about 72 feet long and 30,000 pounds (or 15 tons).
The final verdict on this match? While this is a close challenge in terms of length, it will take about 11 brontosaurs to balance the scale with one adult male blue whale!
Blue whale size compared to sperm whale
The sperm whale is another of the largest animals in the world. In fact, it is the largest toothed predator and even the largest toothed whale. However, how big is it compared to a blue whale?
Well, with a maximum length of 60 feet, the largest sperm well can hardly even come close to the smallest blue whale. If you placed them side by side, the sperm whale would be about half the size of a blue whale. This means that the sperm whale’s tail almost coincides with the front fin of the blue whale.
Still not sure how much larger a blue whale is compared to its aquatic cousin?
The average male sperm whale weighs about 90,000 pounds, or about 45 tons. However, the blue whale can weigh up to 330,000 pounds. Thus, blue whales are not only almost twice as large as sperm whales, but almost three times as heavy.
The differences don’t end there!
If you looked at the heart of a sperm whale and the heart of a blue whale side by side, you would find that even the organs of a blue whale are enormous compared to those of a sperm whale. The heart of a sperm whale is about 40 feet long and over 270 pounds (average weight of two people!). While it sounds huge (and it certainly is), it dwarfs the blue whale’s heart, which weighs up to 400 pounds and is about the size of a bumper car!