What is Whale Food? From Plankton to Dolphins

The whale is divided into two subordos, toothed whales and baleen whales, with each having a different kind of food.

Toothed whales eat fish, squid, and other animals, while baleen whales eat plankton, krill, and other small creatures.

Several studies have shown that human activity can affect the whale feeding habits seen from historical evidence reviews and modern whale studies.

Toothed whales, such as killer whales and pilot whales, have a large set of teeth and eat large animals such as fish, squid, and marine mammals such as seals. Some species even eat other whales and dolphins.

Killer whales, also known as Orca, often work together to hunt prey much larger than themselves.

Researchers have even documented killer whales hunting blue whales, the largest mammals on earth.

Baleen whales are also known as 'filter feeders' that feed on small creatures such as plankton, small fish, and krill.

They filter food through structures such as combs known as balin (baleen). Blue whales and minke whales are some examples of them.

Gray whales foraging by filtering the sediments on the seabed to capture the little creatures that live there.

Blue whales can eat up to 3,600 kilograms of food each day as they collect energy reserves for winter.

In the winter months, these animals survive from the fat deposits in their bodies.

The energy stored in the form of fat is commonly done by many marine mammals.

Apart from being a source of energy when food is hard to come by, fat also provides protection from very cold water.

Whale fat is also used by humans as a fuel source. Whaling has once been a major industry worldwide, primarily from the sale of this network.

Studies to determine what the whales eat can be done in several ways.

Historically, evidence from whalers was used to learn more about whale diets.

In the modern era, researchers can study the whale's dirt to extract mitochondrial DNA, which reveals the type of organism the pope eats.

This method is widely used by researchers who want to learn more about whales without having to kill them.