There has been a national outcry over news that Dippy, the diplodocus skeleton which has been in the entrance hall at the Natural History Museum in London, is to be usurped by a blue whale.
Amid cries of ‘but what about the children’ (assuming children don’t dig whales, just dinosaurs) the museum has defended its decision as being to demonstrate the risks, challenges and downright amazingness of living natural history.
While Dippy was well-loved he was pretty ancient (and not real either, but actually a plaster cast of dino bones), whereas the blue whale, which currently swims through the mammals section of the museum, is real and, importantly, the species still lives in the wild – albeit less so since being hunted extensively.
So, for those of you in mourning for the removal of Dippy, here are some fascinating facts about the blue whale with which you can entertain your friends and may well help you answer a question at the next pub quiz you go to:
– Blue whales are the largest mammals to have ever lived, even bigger than the biggest of dinosaurs!
– Apparently the most enormous blue whale on record was 110 feet long
– Their arteries are big enough for a baby to crawl through
– Despite being massive, they eat krill – tiny shrimp-like critters which individually wouldn’t even make much of a snack for a human, but in their millions make a hearty meal for a blue whale every day
– Their closest living relative is… the hippo!
– They are one of the rarest of whales, with numbers thought to be less than 25,000
So, while Dippy enjoys a well-deserved rest, the blue whale can swim into the spotlight and help spread awareness about the wonders of natural history living today.