Have them consider how effective a thick layer of blubber must be in order to keep a whale warm while submerged in cold water throughout its life. 2. In order to maintain this blubber, whales need to consume large quantities of fat-rich foods. Hint: When you go outside to play on a snowy day, you probably wear some! When baleen whales are in their cold water feeding grounds, they spend at least half the time with their mouths open, a potential large heat loss. One way that they retain the heat is through their blubber, a fatty substance that acts as a form of insulation, or a warm coat, against the frigid waters. Discover (and save!) To follow up on our whale adaptations series this blog post will focus on how whales, as warm-blooded mammals, can stay warm while living in water—especially cold-water environments. And it’s easier for whales to attain large sizes because they don’t have to deal with the full effects of gravity like land mammals. Have each child place their hand in the ice water. Keeping a warm body temperature in cold water requires more energy than keeping a warm body temperature in warm water. Just like us, whales are mammals and maintain a steady internal body temperature regardless of their environment. Bottlenose dolphins in Scotland are the largest of their type in the world because they are the most northerly population in the world. While the thermal windows are great opportunities for the whales to shed heat if overheating, they do not always want to be losing heat to the environment. Registered Charity (Scotland) No. However, water conducts heat away from the body 24.5 times faster than air, making heat loss a big issue for any mammal spending time in the water. Clearly a lot of regulation is required to maintain this complicated process, which makes whales extremely unique at regulating their body temperature. We are still not entirely sure what all of the purposes of the dorsal fin are because some whales lack it entirely—but we believe that these thermal windows at times function as a way for whales to shed excess heat. Please read our privacy policy for information on how we handle your data. This activity is pulled from our Virtual ExCEL Camps happening summer of 2020! While blubber is a fatty tissue, that doesn't mean that just any creature could survive in the cold by gaining some weight -- it's actually much more complex than that. To receive emails about our campaigns and how you can support them, please enter your email address below and press the ‘subscribe’ button. Another way whales reduce both heat loss and drag is to internalize their genitalia, instead of it being external like most terrestrial mammals. Depending on the species the thickness of the blubber can vary dramatically from 1 inch up to 11 inches thick. These areas include flippers, dorsal fins, and their flukes, each relatively thin and highly vascularized. How do they manage to stay warm, even in the ice-cold waters of the Atlantic? The mouse, however, would lose heat much faster since a greater percentage of its total body volume is being exposed to the surface. Sea temperatures vary greatly around the world and whales and dolphins adapt to this. Although fur is a good insulator for terrestrial mammals, it would not be as successful for whales for a couple of reasons. The thick blubber layer not only keeps heat on the inside of the body, but the outermost skin layer is cooled to the same temperature of the surrounding water to further reduce heat loss via conduction. This extra layer does not conduct heat from the body of the whale, therefore not losing it to the surrounding waters. This temperature even in cold temperatures carries blood throughout, or helps keep them warm temperatures... 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