blue whale vs Common Male Fern

Balaenoptera musculus compared with Dryopteris filix-mas

Key Differences

• blue whale is Vulnerable while Common Male Fern is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	blue whale	Common Male Fern
Kingdom	Animalia (động vật)	Plantae (thực vật)
Phylum	Chordata (động vật có dây sống)	Tracheophyta
Class	Mammalia (lớp Thú)	Polypodiopsida (Lớp Dương xỉ)
Order	Cetacea (Whales & Dolphins)	Polypodiales (Bộ Dương xỉ)
Family	Balaenopteridae (Rorquals)	Dryopteridaceae
Genus	Balaenoptera (Rorquals)	Dryopteris
Species	Balaenoptera musculus	Dryopteris filix-mas

Conservation Status

blue whale

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~15.0K

Trend: Increasing ↑

Common Male Fern

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	blue whale	Common Male Fern
Diet	Carnivore	—
Average Lifespan	90 years	—
Average Length	30.0 m	—
Average Weight	150.0 t	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

blue whale

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, among 11 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (4 countries), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador). Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Common Male Fern

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (7 countries), North America (United States), Oceania and the Pacific (New Zealand), and South America (Chile).

blue whale

The largest animal ever known to have lived on Earth, blue whales can reach 33 meters and 200 tonnes — their hearts alone weigh as much as a small car. Found in all oceans, they migrate between polar feeding grounds and tropical breeding areas. Filter feeders consuming up to 4 tonnes of krill daily. Endangered, with global populations estimated at 10,000–25,000 after near-extinction from 20th-century whaling.

Common Male Fern

<em>Dryopteris filix-mas</em>, the common male fern, is a robust, semi-evergreen fern in the family Dryopteridaceae, widely distributed across Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America. It is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. This species typically grows in moist, shaded forest floors, hedgebanks, rocky slopes, and stream margins, preferring acidic to neutral soils in temperate environments. The common male fern produces large, pinnate fronds that can reach over one metre in length, arising from a central crown of scaly rhizomes. It is one of the most familiar ferns of the Northern Hemisphere and has been used medicinally for centuries, with extracts historically employed as an anthelmintic to treat tapeworm infections. The species reproduces via spores produced in kidney-shaped sori arranged in rows on the undersides of fertile fronds. Common male fern plays an important role in forest ecosystems, providing shelter and habitat structure for invertebrates and small vertebrates across its broad temperate range.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 4 countries:

🇩🇰 Denmark 🇳🇴 Norway 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇸🇪 Sweden