Yes, whales are big. But WHY are whales big?
June 12, 2017 8:53 AM Subscribe
"Why did whales get so enormous?" First, it's because of baleen, which allows efficient filtration of large quantities of small food (e.g., krill) from water. But then the start of the last great ice age 5 million years ago pushed nutrients into the sea, causing a leap in krill populations, which itself caused a gigantic leap of baleen whales' size.
Graham J. Slater, Jeremy A. Goldbogen, and Nicholas D. Pyenson have published a paper saying that "the evolution of exceptionally large size (more than 10 m) is a recent phenomenon that results from a fundamental clade-wide shift in the mode of body size evolution."
Graham J. Slater, Jeremy A. Goldbogen, and Nicholas D. Pyenson have published a paper saying that "the evolution of exceptionally large size (more than 10 m) is a recent phenomenon that results from a fundamental clade-wide shift in the mode of body size evolution."
It's not that whales are all that big. They're actually pretty small. They just look big because they're really close up.
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 9:10 AM on June 12, 2017 [14 favorites]
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 9:10 AM on June 12, 2017 [14 favorites]
The cool part is they say the factors that caused them to balloon in size haven't gone away. In a few million years (assuming they're not all dead) they'll be a heck of a lot bigger.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:25 AM on June 12, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by leotrotsky at 9:25 AM on June 12, 2017 [3 favorites]
You know, I don't usually want to live for millions of years, but it might be worth it to stick around just to witness mega-whales swimming around.
posted by signal at 9:35 AM on June 12, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by signal at 9:35 AM on June 12, 2017 [5 favorites]
*baleen in size. I think. (not a scientician.)
posted by quinndexter at 9:43 AM on June 12, 2017
posted by quinndexter at 9:43 AM on June 12, 2017
You know, I don't usually want to live for millions of years, but it might be worth it to stick around just to witness mega-whales swimming around.
According to this paper we kind of are witnessing mega-whales swimming around. :)
posted by distorte at 10:03 AM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
According to this paper we kind of are witnessing mega-whales swimming around. :)
posted by distorte at 10:03 AM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Do whales know krill exists?
posted by anazgnos at 11:27 AM on June 12, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by anazgnos at 11:27 AM on June 12, 2017 [6 favorites]
It did take humans quite a while to realize that oxygen is a thing.
posted by dudemanlives at 11:55 AM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by dudemanlives at 11:55 AM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
So one effect of Climate Change is that there will be far fewer humans, but we'll be huge, and good swimmers.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:59 PM on June 12, 2017
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:59 PM on June 12, 2017
I'm reminded of the whale translation of the human joke about how one guy asks another why he's so fat, and the other guy says because every time I have sex with your mum she gives me a biscuit.
It goes:
Whale 1: Mroooooooorah.
Whale 2: Mroooooooorah, biscuit.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 2:16 PM on June 12, 2017 [10 favorites]
It goes:
Whale 1: Mroooooooorah.
Whale 2: Mroooooooorah, biscuit.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 2:16 PM on June 12, 2017 [10 favorites]
Metafilter: filter the shit out of those little crustaceans.
posted by numaner at 2:21 PM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by numaner at 2:21 PM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Whale 1: Mroooooooorah.
Whale 2: Mroooooooorah, biscuit.
I dunno, that sounded a little orca-ish to me.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:50 AM on June 13, 2017
Whale 2: Mroooooooorah, biscuit.
I dunno, that sounded a little orca-ish to me.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:50 AM on June 13, 2017
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Drat
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:02 AM on June 12, 2017 [6 favorites]