
07/07/2025
Sjoe!
If you think your tongue’s doing a lot of work, wait until you hear about the blue whale’s.
The blue whale isn’t just the largest animal on Earth it’s a creature of epic proportions from head to fin. And one of the most mind-blowing facts? Its tongue alone can weigh as much as an African elephant up to 8,000 pounds, or 3,600 kilograms.
Yes, you read that right. The tongue. Just one part of this massive marine mammal’s anatomy is equivalent in weight to about 40 average adult humans, or roughly the size of a small car. That’s heavier than most SUVs and longer than a shipping container.
But this isn’t just for show. The blue whale’s tongue plays a crucial role in its feeding strategy. When it lunges into massive swarms of krill, it uses its tongue to push the seawater out through its baleen plates trapping millions of tiny crustaceans in a single gulp. It’s like operating a high-efficiency seafood net with a muscle the size of a truck.
This jaw-dropping detail is just one of many that makes the blue whale an icon of evolutionary engineering. From its massive heart (which can be the size of a small piano) to its deep, resonant calls that travel across oceans, the blue whale is nature’s ultimate heavyweight champion and its tongue is proof.