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A big blue whale is about 190t 16t is 8.4% of your body weight. That’s a 200lbs person eating 16lbs of food. Is that impossible? I’d love to see a breakdown of

A big blue whale is about 190t 16t is 8.4% of your body weight. That’s a 200lbs person eating 16lbs of food. Is that impossible? I’d love to see a breakdown of macros of humans and whales. I think 16t wouldn’t seem so crazy.

silisili 5y ago
Joey Chestnut eats about that much weight in just a few minutes each year. It's not impossible, but I'd say pretty rare to find someone who can do so.
TulliusCicero 5y ago
Hmm, being in the ocean means they have to burn a lot more calories relative to their mass, I imagine.
- krylon 5y ago
  Not necessarily. AFAIK, moving through water at moderate speed is quite efficient if you have smooth skin, a streamlined body and a huge fluke. And once you built a thick layer of blubber, staying warm is not that big a problem. Whales still need to eat a lot, because they only eat for a few months per year, so those reserves need to last for a long time, including, possibly, a pregnancy.
  - TulliusCicero 5y ago
    My understanding is that pretty much all marine mammals eat a ton of calories relative to their body weight compared to land mammals, and I can't think of an explanation of that besides needing to keep warm in the water.
    - krylon 5y ago
      It makes sense. Building and maintaining that layer of blubber must take a lot of eating for a large animal, and most large whales have their feeding grounds in fairly cold waters. And of course, building and maintaining a body of 10 or more metric tons requires a lot of food to begin with.
bell-cot 5y ago
Many baleen whales are seasonal eaters - they migrate yearly between feeding in the (say) arctic and breeding in the (say) sub-tropics. Imagine that your 200lbs person needed to pack on enough weight in the winter to fast through the summer. (Yes, obviously this wouldn't work so well for humans. Whales have adapted to it, have economies of scale, and the water supports their weight "for free".)

silisili 5y ago

Joey Chestnut eats about that much weight in just a few minutes each year. It's not impossible, but I'd say pretty rare to find someone who can do so.

TulliusCicero 5y ago

Hmm, being in the ocean means they have to burn a lot more calories relative to their mass, I imagine.

krylon 5y ago
Not necessarily. AFAIK, moving through water at moderate speed is quite efficient if you have smooth skin, a streamlined body and a huge fluke. And once you built a thick layer of blubber, staying warm is not that big a problem. Whales still need to eat a lot, because they only eat for a few months per year, so those reserves need to last for a long time, including, possibly, a pregnancy.
- TulliusCicero 5y ago
  My understanding is that pretty much all marine mammals eat a ton of calories relative to their body weight compared to land mammals, and I can't think of an explanation of that besides needing to keep warm in the water.
  - krylon 5y ago
    It makes sense. Building and maintaining that layer of blubber must take a lot of eating for a large animal, and most large whales have their feeding grounds in fairly cold waters. And of course, building and maintaining a body of 10 or more metric tons requires a lot of food to begin with.

bell-cot 5y ago

Many baleen whales are seasonal eaters - they migrate yearly between feeding in the (say) arctic and breeding in the (say) sub-tropics. Imagine that your 200lbs person needed to pack on enough weight in the winter to fast through the summer. (Yes, obviously this wouldn't work so well for humans. Whales have adapted to it, have economies of scale, and the water supports their weight "for free".)