Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Researcher Needed!!

We have been looking for some information about humpback whale hearts for our expo. We've found that a humpback whale heart is usually about 200 kgs but we haven't been able to find out the size of it in tems of how big it is. We know a blue whale heart is as big as a small car but we'd love to know how big a humpback whale's heart is so if you can help us please do.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJune 15, 2009 at 10:47 AM

    Dear Mike,
    it sounds like you have been hard at work! Because weight tells us little about the
    comparative size of the heart, most scientist talk about the weight of the heart as a
    percentage of the total body weight, that's why you are having trouble finding this
    information.


    posted by susan sherrell, Ryan's Mum. Hope this helps.
    The one bit of information I have is from E Slijper's book 'Whales' 1979, Cornell University
    Press. He states that the heart of a whale is almost 6 feet wide. He doesn't specify which
    whale he's talking about though! The ratio (once again) of blood to body weight is similar
    to other mammals. I don't have a number for the humpback, but in blue whales it is about
    6.5 %, while in belugas it is 5.5 %. If humpbacks have an average of 6% of blood relative
    to body weight, and the average body weight of a humpback is between 30 and 34 tonnes then I
    guess this would mean between 400 and 450 gallons of blood.



    Nathalie Patenaude
    Molecular Ecology and Evolution Group
    School of Biological Sciences
    University of Auckland
    Private Bag 92019
    Auckland, New Zealand

    posted by susan sherrell, Ryan's Mum, I hope this helps!

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