The Big Gulp

Hi.

So the past week's SciFri video actually freaked me out more than impressed me. I mean there was some science to it, that was a bit interesting. But the actually subject of the episode was on the immediate repulsion list >.> .

Anyways, I decided to jump back into the past videos to something much more enjoyable. As you know, I have been going through the older videos. I probably wouldn't have noticed these normally, but because I was shuffling through the videos and browsing the titles, I came across two very similar videos talking about, well, very large eaters.

  

Now sure, here we really are only talking about the feeding habits of a few ginormous omnivores. But frankly it's a little insane. I mean take the first breakdown: these are the largest creatures on the earth, and their source of food is on the nano to micro scale. I mean, seriously?

Forget that they need ridiculous quantities. The end result is that they are sufficiently full off of a large quantity of bacteria or algae (depending on the region and depth they feed the plankton vary). Even as a vegetarian I can't imagine that being even remotely filling. Maybe that's why they do it almost 24/7 (and yes this part is solely about blue whales ^_^). But hey, maybe because I'm a human, and I like chewing my food to feel satisfied - part of the whole neurological connections that tie chewing to salivating to secretion of digestive enzymes, ya di ya.

Second breakdown: forget imagining the sheer size of the blue whale, the scale of it is hard to picture (especially when it's like we are insects compared to them).

But picturing what it swallows, we can do - it's an enormous scale on the ridiculous side. Ok, so considering blue whales can get up to the size of 90ft, if it can swallow a volume comparative to a 20ft x 40ft swimming pool in each gulp, it's almost as if it's swallowing half of the amount of water they displace. So find 2 of those, put them next to each other (so a 20 x 80 pool) - and you'll be swimming in a blue whale sized body of water.

Ok, that still doesn't make it easy to imagine. I guess I'll just need to go to a nearby school district and just look at 3 yellow school buses in a line to really get the picture.

Third breakdown: So considering you don't have the ability to make nets and cast them into water, how exactly would you fish? Bubbles of course.

Now you have to realize it's kinda ingenious. Bubbles are the perfect way to trap fish in a concentrated location - perfect for fishing out of the water. Fish treat the bubbles like an impenetrable wall, and get caught in the net of bubbles humpback whales erect. And once they are well and trapped, it's one easy mouthful - I mean car-ful - of food. In a way, it's like corralling all your peas into one large spoon for one bite. Much more efficient than chasing them around with a fork. Of course, they still don't truly how the bubbles originate. But it is definitely a very clever manipulation - talk about working with what you've got.

Fourth breakdown: Clearly if you can find a body of water large enough and deep enough, anyone can be a graceful acrobat.

First, the blue whale. After taking a few breaths, they dive down to depths around 240-280ft. Then they proceed to execute 360 barrel rolls (makes you want fins doesn't it? Ok, maybe just me - human limbs make for poor underwater awesomeness). Now considering the scale of these animals, think about it. 3 school buses in a row, barreling. And add to that fact that it's a directed roll into feeding patches, and they're eating while doing it. It's all very graceful.

Now, humpback whales. Now, I guess because they are a little shorter than the blue whale, they have a bit more flexibility with the whole underwater movement (think, it would be harder for an underwater torpedo to execute a flip, but barrel rolling is quite streamline). The notable motion is a wide spiral that starts from the bottom and ends with the humpback swooping back up to the surface with a big gulp. The cool part is the way you see the bubbles showing up at the surface in an actual spiral! There is another less impressive, more recently discovered double loop maneuver. This really just adds to the repertoire of tightly executed swimming acrobatics. It almost seems like they're showing off doesn't it ^_^.

Fifth breakdown: The first thing that made me recognize the similarities of the two videos, is the device that tracked the motions of these large mammals: the critter cam, or detag.

Now, the software used to analyse the data may differ slightly between the 2 studies, but the bottom line is the bit of engineering that gives researchers the chance to study the underwater behaviors and retrieve the device without having to severely impede the natural behavior of the whales or risk the lives of the scientists. And to think, it's all due to suction cups ^_^. I mean the details are all in the videos; so you don't need me to repeat all of it here. But really it has a brilliant design and makes me repeat the thought - that well, engineers are kinda awesome ^_^.