The longest blue whale on record is measured at South Georgia
A female blue whale measuring 33.58 m is recorded at a South Georgia whaling station - the longest individual of any animal reliably measured. The sources retrieved for this pack disagree on the circumstances: one gives 1909 at a South Georgia station, another says the animal was processed at Grytviken around 1912. The disagreement is left standing here rather than resolved, because the station measurement books were not consulted.
Uncertain — sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated here, not resolved.
Subjects
- Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) · species · Global ocean, all major basins · not located
- Grytviken Whaling Station · site · South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK overseas territory)
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Largest animal; largest mammal; largest whale
The longest blue whale on record is a female measured at a South Georgia whaling station at 33.58 m; the heaviest is a separate female taken in the Southern Ocean on 20 March 1947 at 190 tonnes. V55 verification basis: retrieved in search summary attributed to Guinness World Records; the entries were not fetched, and the sources retrieved disagree on whether the length record dates from 1909 or c.1912 - the disagreement is preserved rather than resolved.
Guinness World Records · accessed 2026-08-08 · Partly verified
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/115537-largest-animal and https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-mammal
Recorded on Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
- Whaling begins at Grytviken, South Georgia
- The longest blue whale on record is measured at South Georgia
- The heaviest blue whale on record is weighed
- Whaling ends at South Georgia
- The IWC protects blue whales from commercial hunting
- The commercial whaling moratorium takes effect
- The energetics of blue whale lunge feeding are modelled
- Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens · 2021-11
- The energetics of blue whale lunge feeding are modelled · 2011
- The commercial whaling moratorium takes effect · 1986 (coastal); 1985/86 pelagic season
- The IWC protects blue whales from commercial hunting · 1966
- Whaling ends at South Georgia · 1965 (Grytviken); island operations described as running to 1971
- The heaviest blue whale on record is weighed · 1947-03-20
- Whaling begins at Grytviken, South Georgia · 1904-11-16