Nearly everyone has a memory of their first time swimming or snorkeling over the deep. The moment the bottom disappears and an infinite blue and green haunts many of us.
What was down there? What monsters could swim up in an instant and gobble us whole?
This childlike wonder, while scary, also inspires many of us to pursue aquatic exploration and to overcome our fears. And to be fair, not all creatures of the deep are created equal.
Although some of the largest sea creatures in history were ravenous carnivores, many were also gentler plankton sifters similar to many of today’s whale populations.
Sure, the infamously hungry Megalodon was HUGE, at a whopping 69-feet (!), but the still-living Blue whale currently tops it by an incredible 50 feet at an average 120-foot length. That’s crazy!
With all of that mass, an animal’s caloric needs are incredible. It’s estimated that a modern orca needs a whopping 193,211 to 286,331 calories per day just to subsist. That’s a lot of seal or tuna meat.
Conversely, at 50 tons, the non-aggressive, plankton-feeding Blue Whale needs 400,000 calories a day just to keep swimming. For reference, that’s over 710 Big Macs a day.
How Big is Big?
But how do all these creatures—past and present—measure up? Watch the video below to see just how enormous some of these creatures actually were. Compared to today’s Orcas and Great Whites, some of these prehistoric species were absolutely colossal and terrifying.
Face the Deep With BARE
We know that diving or swimming with giant ancient carnivores probably isn’t your cup of tea. Same with us.
But that said, we do love exploring, and we bet you do, too. That’s why BARE makes some of the most elite and high-performance immersion wear on the planet—to help you explore.
From the hyper-modular and multisport-friendly ExoWear to BARE’s ultimate kit for getting you into frigid waters, the X-Mission Evolution Drysuit, we’re committed to helping you face down that green-and-blue abyss, and keep on going.
