It is hard to guess what a Blainville’s beaked whale weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Blainville’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) on average weights 2300 kg (5070.63 lbs).
The Blainville’s beaked whale is from the family Ziphiidae (genus: Mesoplodon). They can live for up to 27 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 4.59 meter (15′ 1″).
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
Blainville’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), or the dense-beaked whale, is the widest ranging mesoplodont whale and perhaps the most documented. The French zoologist Henri de Blainville first described the species in 1817 from a small piece of jaw — the heaviest bone he had ever come across — which resulted in the name densirostris (Latin for “dense beak”). Off the northeastern Bahamas, the animals are particularly well documented, and a photo identification project started sometime after 2002.
Animals of the same family as a Blainville’s beaked whale
We found other animals of the Ziphiidae family:
- Hector’s beaked whale bringing 1000 kilos (2204.62 lbs) to the scale
- Andrews’ beaked whale bringing 2600 kilos (5732.01 lbs) to the scale
- Gray’s beaked whale bringing 2900 kilos (6393.4 lbs) to the scale
- Strap-toothed whale bringing 1500 kilos (3306.93 lbs) to the scale
- Gervais’ beaked whale bringing 5600 kilos (12345.87 lbs) to the scale
- Northern bottlenose whale bringing 3391.68 kilos (7477.37 lbs) to the scale
- Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale bringing 1500 kilos (3306.93 lbs) to the scale
- Cuvier’s beaked whale bringing 4772.5 kilos (10521.55 lbs) to the scale
- Stejneger’s beaked whale bringing 4800 kilos (10582.18 lbs) to the scale
- Sowerby’s beaked whale bringing 3400 kilos (7495.71 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Blainville’s beaked whale
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Mesoplodon densirostris:
- True’s beaked whale with a weight of 2100 kilos (4629.7 lbs)
- Shepherd’s beaked whale with a weight of 2500 kilos (5511.55 lbs)
- Andrews’ beaked whale with a weight of 2600 kilos (5732.01 lbs)
- White rhinoceros with a weight of 2272.97 kilos (5011.04 lbs)
- Tropical bottlenose whale with a weight of 2200 kilos (4850.16 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Blainville’s beaked whale
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Blainville’s beaked whale:
- Indian rhinoceros with a size of 3.74 meter (12′ 4″)
- Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale with a size of 4.88 meter (16′ 1″)
- Southern elephant seal with a size of 3.69 meter (12′ 2″)
- Northern elephant seal with a size of 3.72 meter (12′ 3″)
- Sowerby’s beaked whale with a size of 5.03 meter (16′ 7″)
- True’s beaked whale with a size of 5.18 meter (17′ 0″)
- Narwhal with a size of 5.1 meter (16′ 9″)
- Beluga whale with a size of 4.25 meter (14′ 0″)
- Andrews’ beaked whale with a size of 4.26 meter (14′ 0″)
- Hubbs’ beaked whale with a size of 5.4 meter (17′ 9″)
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Blainville’s beaked whale
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Blainville’s beaked whale:
- Brown-mantled tamarin with an average maximal age of 24.5 years
- Alpine ibex with an average maximal age of 22.25 years
- California sea lion with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Hawaiian monk seal with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Platypus with an average maximal age of 22 years
- Eastern grey kangaroo with an average maximal age of 24 years
- Galápagos fur seal with an average maximal age of 22 years
- Stump-tailed macaque with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Mantled guereza with an average maximal age of 24.5 years
- Crested mona monkey with an average maximal age of 24.08 years