SURVIVAL CHAMPS
In our recent post we talked about the efficiency of the so-called blubber layer when it comes to keeping a whale warm while swimming in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. However, there's more to this fat layer than that it's a superb insulation against freezing temperatures.
While this blubber layer is certainly great and reliable for maintaining the body temperature regardless the depth or temperature the whale is swimming in, it also stores energy. Most of the whale species we encounter are migratory and visit the waters around Iceland for a few months a year only. While here they feed on as much as they can, build up more and more blubber and doing so, gain fat reserves for the months to come in warmer waters - waters that won't supply the needed amount of food or where food is generally unavailable: their breeding grounds. Once arriving to tropical temperatures, the animals will then break down these reserves they've built up while here. The energy stored in the blubber is made up of both proteins and fat. Especially mothers who have migrated south to give birth depend on these resources as they will stay away from their feeding grounds for several months while having to supply energy to their own body and nurse the young calf.
Last, this magnificent blubber layer helps whales to stay buoyant as it is less dense than the surrounding ocean water. Hence, these gentle giants naturally float. If that wasn't the case they would need more muscles to move and succeed gravity, which would require extra energy and to gain this, they'd actually have to feed on an even greater amount of food while here than they anyway do.
In short, the blubber layer is one of the reasons animals of these sizes and weights are actually able to survive.
However, even though whales have differently thick blubber layers, the thickness itself does not mean better insulation, energy storage, or buoyancy, which actually depend on the chemical property of the blubber.
- Sarah
