Blue whale impression by an artist, found on her blog. See more of her whale drawings there.

For this summer’s expedition in Saguenay, we take a look at 6 of the 13 whales that are present in the region.

Take a look at this drawing to get an idea of the scale of whales and this chart on how to recognize them from whales-online.net

This species is a baleen whale. Baleen you say? They are like rigid hairs that this whale uses to comb the ocean for food, such as krill (small shrimps) – Ironic that the biggest eat the smallest. Read more about baleen on Wikipedia.

The Blue Whale is the equivalent of 24 elephants in weight, and of six-storey building in length. In the history of our planet, no other living thing has been so big.

Like other baleen whales, the female is slightly bigger than the male. Solitary mammals, blue whales have had a hard time increasing their population since the moratorium on whaling 20 years ago.

Because of this, the mighty of the sea is considered endangered on the IUCN’s Red List. The group that returns every year to the St. Lawrence River is estimated at 500 individuals, while the total population is estimated between 5,000 and 12,000.

Scientists estimate the whale’s lifespan to stretch over 80 years. But like many other whales, much remains to be understood.

Check out this video from the BBC with incredible footage of the whales. Or this great clip from National Geo’s Wild Chronicles.