Is size important?

摘要

A straw poll of reasonably educated people virtually anywhere today would, I might guess, show that all had ticked the box which suggested it was important to protect the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). At ~190 tonnes and 33 m in length, this is the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth, but only 1% of its ancient numbers, or between 5000 and 12,000 individuals, survive today as remnants from an earlier whaling era. It is so big, its tongue weighs as much as an elephant - ~5 tonnes! I would also guess today that the same attitude would be mainly reflected, but with the exception of a few whaling nations, in any poll relating to marine mammals in general - virtually all whales, dolphins, the walrus, seals and sea lions and sea otters. All are 'big' and, generally, 'cute'. Although as demonstrated recently in the killing of a young man on Svalbard by a polar bear, maybe not so 'cuddly', in a conservation sense.