00:00Blue whales are the largest creatures on the planet, stretching 80 to 100 feet long and weighing upwards of 290,000 to 330,000 pounds.
00:14However, despite their size, marine biologists say they now have evidence that these behemoths are actually mating with another species.
00:21The discovery was made during genome sequencing of North Atlantic blue whales, finding that 3.5% of their DNA was actually fin whale DNA.
00:29Fin whales are still quite large, but not nearly as big as their apparent blue whale mates.
00:34Fin whales average a length of around 70 feet and weigh upwards of 100,000 pounds.
00:39The researchers say they were not only surprised at such a high percentage of DNA coming from fin whales, but that every blue whale sampled had at least some of it.
00:47This is especially wild considering that most hybrid animals are infertile.
00:50Yet that doesn't seem to be the case with the offspring of these two whale species.
00:54Experts say this is likely due to them still being quite close on the evolutionary tree.
00:59However, the biologists note that while blue whales all have some fin whale DNA, the opposite isn't true.
01:04This is believed to be the result of limited blue whales to mate with, meaning blue whales might be the only ones that will mate with the hybrid whales.
Comments