Animal Hearts

What is a heart? It isn’t just a shape. A heart is an organ inside you! Your heart has an important job. It pumps blood through your body.  Your heart is about the size of your fist. It weighs less than a can of soup! Your heart beats between 75 and 115 times each minute.

Animal hearts come in many different shapes and sizes. Sometimes animals even have more than one heart!

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Blue whales have the biggest hearts of any animal. They weigh about 181 kilograms (400 pounds). A blue whale’s heart beats very slowly: only 4 to 35 times per minute.

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A fruit fly has the smallest heart. You can’t even see it. You
would need a microscope! A fruit fly’s heart beats very fast: about 235 times per
minute!

What do you think? What do you notice about animal size and heart rate?

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