β¨Trivia
A Blue Whale's Heart Is the Size of a Small Car
A blue whale's heart can weigh up to 400 pounds (180 kg) and is so large that a small child could crawl through its arteries.
About this fact
The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to have lived on Earth, and its heart matches its massive size. Weighing up to 400 pounds, the heart is about the size of a small car and pumps about 58 gallons of blood with each beat. The whale's aorta (main artery) is so large that a small human could crawl through it. Despite this enormous heart, a blue whale's heart rate is extremely slow - only 5-6 beats per minute when diving, though it can increase to 25-37 beats per minute when surfacing. The heart must work incredibly hard to pump blood through the whale's 100-foot-long body.