Today’s interesting fact has to do with Blue Whales.

Blue Whales are as far as we know the largest animals to ever have ever existed.

The Blue Whale is a filter feeder using baleen, a hair-like substance that grows from the roof of the mouth, to filter out small fish, krill and plankton from water they engulf, but do not swallow.

All whales that have baleen have a special joint at their chin that allows each side of the jaw to rotate.

This allows them to engulf vast amounts of water.

The Blue Whale has a mouth cavity that can engulf a volume of water equivalent to its own body mass.

Today's interesting fact has to do with the largest and smallest living organism.

The largest one seems to be a fungus, known locally as the "humongous fungus", a honey mushroom. The mycelium of this fungus covers almost 1000 hectares of forest. DNA tests from portions taken throughout the forest has shown that it is all one creature

The smallest one (and note that it self replicates without outside help, in other words, is not a parasite) is a bacterium that is 200 nanometres in diameter. It was found in hot, arsenic filled mine effluent.