Gray whales are known for their large bodies and long migrations, but the most interesting thing about them is that they hunt and eat small creatures from the sea. Gray whales have a unique hunting method that looks like a dance that allows them to eat plankton and insects from the ocean. In this article, we will discuss how these giant animals collect and use their food.
The Gray Whale Feeding Technique: Bottom-Feeding Masters:
Gray whales obtain food by scooping up mud from the ocean floor. This method is called bottom feeding. Lying on their right side, these whales dig into the ocean floor with their mouths, a process that looks like a slow underwater dance as they turn their heads in the mud in search of food.
Thus, gray whales burrow into the bottom of the sea and hunt for many small organisms such as amphipods, krill and plankton that form part of their daily diet.Baleen plates in their upper jaws act like sieves, allowing water and soil to pass through while filtering and swallowing food with ease.
How Do Gray Whales Collect Small Organisms?
Gray whales use their long, comb-like structures, also called gill plates, to filter out small organisms in soil and water. When she scoops the soil into her mouth, the baleen traps the tiny organisms and expels the water and sand. This technique allows them to forage very efficiently, allowing them to consume enough food to fuel their large bodies during long migrations.
Their pole-dance-like movement on the sea floor rapidly stirs up the soil, allowing it to find many amphipods, krill and plankton hidden in the soil. Thus, gray whales can consume up to 3,000 pounds of food per day during feeding seasons.
The Importance of Gray Whale Feeding Behavior:
Foraging for food from the sea bottom is one of the great characteristics of gray whales and is vital to their survival as they are able to obtain enough food before their migration. stored as fat and able to survive on a limited diet for long periods of time when migrating. In places like the Bering Sea and Baja California, the energy they get from bituminous feeding helps them survive during migration.
Understanding this “feeding dance” helps us understand how gray whales survive in their complex marine environment by gracefully and skillfully gathering large amounts of food.
