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Statue of Carl Linnaeus (Carl Johan Dyfverman, 1890, bronze)
The University where I went to school had many remarkable statues, but the most spectacular was an immense heroic bronze statue of Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist, biologist, and zoologist who invented the binomial nomenclature we still use to scientifically name and classify living organisms. Including its base, the statue was 20 feet tall and Linnaeus was splendidly dressed in both a Roman toga and an 18th century frock coat (which would probably excessive in most places but not in his native Sweden nor in Chicago).
Linnaeus is kind of grinning in every likeness of him!
The statue of Linnaeus is remarkable not just for its size but for the wry look of scarcely contained mirth on the great natural philosopher’s countenance. I had always interpreted this expression as an artistic flourish, but last week, when I was writing about the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), I found reason to wonder whether the look was actually appropriate.
Balaenoptera musculus
As I explained in that post, the blue whale is a creature of extraordinary size—an otherworldly giant which dwarfs every other animal ever known. Linnaeus knew this when he gave the whale its binomial scientific name “Balaenoptera musculus” and indeed the name is most appropriate. “Balaenoptera” is from Latin and means “fin whale” an appropriate name for the great rorquals. “Musculus” is also Latin and it means “muscle” an appropriate designation for the most powerful creature on earth. Yet “musculus” is a homonym in Latin: it also can be translated as “little mouse”. Linnaeus was a gifted scholar in both Greek and Latin. He surely knew the ironic double meaning. It must have been a stroke of humor which made him name the largest animal ever after a tiny mouse.
The largest animal to ever exist is the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) an immense rorqual capable of growing to over 30 metres (100 ft) in length and 180 metric tons (200 tons) in mass. Although science has made substantial progress in understanding these great leviathans, the whales still harbor many secrets. However today’s post is not meant to be an overarching description of the giant mysterious creatures.
Image: National Geographic Channel ’s Kingdom of Blue Whale
Nor is this tiny post a comprehensive history. The blue whales have a story as big and long as they are, but, so far it has been a sad tale. Once their population numbered in the hundreds of thousands, however steel boats, exploding harpoons, and humankind’s inexorable appetite quickly winnowed them down to a few hundred in the 1970s. Today the blue whale population is estimated to number one percent of what it once was—and, although the population is slowly growing, the blue whales face competition for food (krill is industrially harvested as food for fish farms), changing global ocean currents, and death or serious bodily injury from shipping. A big container ship can kill a blue whale like an SUV crushing a toddler.
To sustain their immense bulk, blue whales must eat a prodigious amount of krill. A hungry adult whale can eat up to forty million of the tiny crustaceans per day (along with whatever copepods, squid, and fish are accidentally caught up along with the krill). The whales follow the huge pink underwater clouds of krill as they drift and twist through the oceans and thus circumstance (or crustacean whim) occasionally puts the blue giants in proximity to humans. When this happens the whales are a source of great wonder, but they are also in terrible danger from shipping.
Blue Whale Feeding on Krill Near the Surface (Barbara Howard, Acrylic on Canvas)
This is what is happening right now off Long Beach, California (the port complex of Los Angeles) which is the busiest port in the United States. The largest concentration of blue whales along the North America coast has gathered outside the port along the continental divide in order to hunt for krill. Marine biologists have been monitoring the whales with suction-mounted radio trackers which fall off after one day. Not only can the biologists radio warnings to ships coming close to the blue whales, they are also able to analyze the cetaceans’ behavior in order to better prevent accidents.
On October 7th, The LA Times reported that, “An 80-foot whale whose tag was scooped from the ocean Tuesday is a regular visitor that has been in the area for about a month. When researchers tagged the same whale a week before, they downloaded data that revealed a typical behavior pattern. The animal spent most of the day just outside the port, diving as deep as 1,000 feet. After dark, it stayed near the surface, perhaps to rest, and swam to the Santa Monica Bay.”
Lingering near the surface of the water beside the country’s busiest port after dark is dangerous behavior even for an 80 foot sea monster! Listen whales, everybody loves all-you-can-eat shrimp buffets (and everybody really loves to see blue whales) but you guys need to get out of LA. Take a clue from the fate of all the innocent teens hoping to break into the movie industry and move along before you get hurt. Blue whales can live to be 110 years old if they aren’t run over by ships filled with plastic crap from China!
Of course if you don’t think the whales will listen to my blog, it might be worth contacting your political leaders and asking for more comprehensive protection for ocean life.
ferrebeekeeper 