Predators of the Blue Whale

Predators & Threats to Blue Whales

    The only natural (non-human) predator that has ever been recorded attacking a Blue whale is packs of killer whales, or Orcas. It is highly unlikely that they would ever attempt to take down an adult blue whale, do to the sheer difference of scale between the two whales. But Groups of Orcas have been known to attack and kill young blue whales, even with the mother Blue whale present and trying to defend it.

    Man is still the #1 predator, even now with the endangered species status. Blue whales were once considered too difficult to hunt because of their speed and tremendous size. However, with the introduction of factory ships and the harpoon gun in the 1920s, blue whales were hunted intensively. By the 1960s they were nearly extinct.

    Pirates and illegal whaleing takes a toll on the species to this day. Previously, legal whaling allowed for whalers all over the globe to hunt down blue whales until the International Whaling Commission declared them to be a protected species in 1966, due to a huge decrease in their population.

    Indirectly, man is the other threat that blue whales face. Pollution to our oceans hasn’t been directly responsible for the death of any Blue whale on record yet, but it is only a matter of time, and meanwhile we degrade their quality of life daily. Additionally, fishing nets occasionally snare a blue whale and the outcome can be fatal if strict netting regulations aren’t followed to the letter by the unsuspecting fisherman.