How did whales manage to grow so big? And is there a limit to how big they can get? Scientists looked at the mechanics of how whales feed, especially those species that consume tiny krill. They call what they discovered "lunge-feeding", which is detailed in an article at Discover Magazine.
This type of feeding might explain the size of whales.
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In order to make lunge-feeding work, you have to have a really big mouth to capture enough water in one gulp. But in order to have a big mouth, you need a big body. And in order to keep that big body running, you need to get a lot of food. And in the very act of getting that food–diving deep, lunging open-mouthed, and then pushing a school-bus-sized volume of water forwards–requires a lot of energy on its own.
This type of feeding might explain the size of whales.
If the scientists are right, they may have discovered one of the big ironies in evolution. Lunge-feeding may have allowed whales to become the biggest animals ever to roam the planet. But this was not an open-ended invitation.r. Once whales got large enough, lunge feeding itself became so costly it prevented them from getting any bigger.
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Newest 3 Comments
yes their body growth are unstoppable until their life time. Their normal life time has been calculated as 40 years and i have read in an discovery article that the whales never stops lunge-feeding even after reaching a bigger growth
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It's the same with catfish. The larger the enviroment and no predators they grow until they die. :l
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I eat because I'm big. I'm big because I eat. It's a vicious cycle.
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