Sunday, February 19, 2006
I'll Drink To That
You have to love five year old minds, they are as yet completely uncluttered with the deitrus of life, like little sponges absorbing all around them. They can come up with the most astounding observations and can suddenly ask the strangest questions, like this one.
"Dad, do whales drink water?"
Well do they?
"Dad, do whales drink water?"
Well do they?
4 Comments:
That's a great question.
We were walking through the supermarket one day when my then five-year-old daughter asked me: "Daddy, what size do you take in bowling shoes?". (We had never been bowling.)
to answer your question the best I could come up with is
'a blue whale can expand its throat to take in as much as 50 tons of water in one gulp. Then it forces the water out through comb-like plates which keep the krill in and let the water filter out'
so not sure if they keep any to drink!
Hi Kitchen Hand, sounds like she would have been a great girl guide, always prepared for any eventuality, BTW thanks for the link.
Hi Ange, thanks for the info, that's awesome, 50,000 litres in one go. I don't know why, it just reminds me of Marlin and Blue Dory in the whales mouth, with Marlin stressing about everything and Blue Dory saying "Just let go."
Just stumbled across this entry because I imagined being asked exactly that same question (I'm supposed to know about whales).
The quick answer is no ;)
Those that feed on fish (dolphins and some of the large whales) can derive most of their water from their prey. If a dolphin in captivity stops feeding, it has to be given fresh water through a stomach tube.
However, whales that feed on salty krill and squid have to break down fat to obtain water. By the way, this is also what camels do in the desert.
All whales have extremely large and efficient kidneys and pass highly concentrated urine.
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