The blue whale is the largest animal in the world. It is also one of the heaviest, weighing up to 210 tons. This means the whale must have a cardiovascular system much larger than ours. The photo to the left is a blue whale heart. The heart of a whale is much stronger and larger than that of a human, because it requires much more force to pump blood through a whale's body. The heart alone weights 1,600 lbs, and some of it's arteries are 9 inches in diameter. The weight of the blood alone in a whale is estimated to be about 14 tons. Whales have arteries running through their blubber, the thick layer of fat that insulates the whale. When the whale is warm and over exerted, the arteries in a whale will widen, allowing blood to be pumped out faster and moving heat away from the blubber. When cold the arteries shrink, and the blubber is able to insulate better.
The aorta of a blue whale is large enough for a child to crawl through. If a whale was on land, the weight of its own body would cause it's organs to collapse and the whale would die. The whale is only able to survive because the water it swims in helps to support it's organs.
The aorta of a blue whale is large enough for a child to crawl through. If a whale was on land, the weight of its own body would cause it's organs to collapse and the whale would die. The whale is only able to survive because the water it swims in helps to support it's organs.