The Minke Whale

Whales of the World

The minke whale, or Balaenoptera acutorostrata is one of the smallest members of the Balaenoptera Family.The minke whale leads a very diverse life under the sea. Males can be up to 10.7 meters, and females can be up to 9.8 meters. The whales mature sexually between the ages seven and eight. One of their more distinctive features is their narrow, pointed, and triangular rostrum and a single prominent head ridge. The color ranges from black to dark gray on the back. These animals have wide bellies. They can often be found singly, in pairs, or in trios. They like to congregate in areas of food concentration in polar seas during the spring and summer. They often segregate according to their age and sex. They are the most abundant of the baleen whales. There are 760,000 in the southern hemisphere alone. To satisfy their hunger, they prefer krill (euphausiids), shoaling fish (herring, cod, pollack, and capelin), and copepods. According to killer whales, they make a great snack. They can hold their breath for approximately seventeen minutes. When the females are four years old, they start bearing calves approximately every year. The gestation period lasts for about eleven months, followed by a six month nursing period. A minke whale can weigh up to eleven tons, which is ten metric tons. Minke whales can be found near the coast in shallow waters and bays.

Andrea-Vanessa-Erica @ the Advanced Technologies Academy