Get a rare, up-close look at the largest animal on Earth – near the Central California coastline

The largest animal type ever to roam the earth – a blue whale – was spotted swimming and eating while roughly a mile from a popular Central California beach this weekend.

Slater Moore Photography used a drone to record a blue whale as it gracefully moved around near the Monterey Bay’s submarine canyon, just off of Salinas River State Beach.

“We saw the largest animal on Earth,” Moore wrote on a Facebook posting. “And if that wasn’t already cool enough, then we saw it feed.

“This is by far one of the coolest things I have ever filmed.”

The video shows a blue whale appearing to gulp up krill and filter water through its baleen plates.

Though blue whales can grow as long as 100 feet and bigger than dinosaurs and heavy as 200 tons (approximately 33 elephants), they primarily eat small, shrimp-like crustaceans that on average are only two inches long.

Blue whales are considered endangered species with only 1,500 to 2,500 left in existence, according to www.whalefacts.org.

Moore, who was on a Monterey-based Discovery Whale Watch boat, initially went out in the ocean to see humpback whales feeding in front of Moss Landing.

Then he was informed of another pair of humpbacks and a blue whale further out near the Monterey Bay submarine canyon.

He then flew a drone to capture the blue whale in action.

“Another absolutely mind blowing trip,” Moore said.

This story was originally published June 26, 2017 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Get a rare, up-close look at the largest animal on Earth – near the Central California coastline."