Baleen whales have an appetite beyond imagination

As the largest animal in the world, the whale has a strong appetite, but until now, researchers have not realized how big its appetite is

A new study reveals that the average food intake of baleen whales (whales that use a comb-like mouth structure to filter food) is three times what was previously thought

They forage on the bottom of the sea, defecate on the surface of the water, and circulate nutrients throughout the ocean

When Matthew Savoca, an ecologist at the Royal Naval College in the United Kingdom, tried to figure out how much plastic the whales eat, he realized that he must first answer a basic question: how much do they eat? He was surprised to realize that there were only estimates of the food intake of whales, and these estimates were rough, calculated based on the stomach contents or metabolism of the cetaceans that were stranded and killed

Therefore, Savoca, Shirel Kahane-Rapport, a marine biologist at California State University Fulton, and colleagues used drones, echo detection equipment, and suction cup tracking devices to track the foraging of 321 whales

On November 3, they reported in Nature that, on average, baleen whales consume three times as much food as previously estimated

The researchers also calculated that before the massive killing in the 20th century, baleen whales in the Southern Ocean ate twice as many Antarctic krill each year, or 430 million tons

The new research also supports the so-called krill paradox: as the largest predator disappears, krill populations are also affected

These new estimates indicate that whales produce and mix more nutrients than previously thought

Asha de Vos, a marine biologist at Oceanswell, a marine conservation organization in Sri Lanka who was not involved in the study, said: "This is a good reminder that whaling has both direct and indirect effects on the ocean

https://doi.
org/10.
1126/science.
acx9563

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