Whales are warm-blooded marine mammals, and as such, they have specific internal metabolic processes that help them stay warm and help to stabilize their body’s temperature in cold environments.
Because whales are warm-blooded mammals, one of the factors that help keep their body warm is increasing their metabolic rate, which helps burn calories and transfer heat through their blood and to vital organs and muscles.
While little is known or discussed regarding the use of their muscles to maintain body heat, shivering may help keep whales warm by involuntarily increasing the movement of their muscles.
Whales can also keep warm due to the thick layer of insulating blubber surrounding their body.
Depending on the species, the thickness of the blubber can range anywhere from 2 inches to over 1 ft thick!
What’s more interesting is that the thickness of the blubber only partially keeps whales warm.
The lipid concentration in their blubber is the more significant factor in keeping whales warm.
Whales with less blubber but a higher concentration of lipids may stay warmer in cold climates than whales with a thick layer of blubber but a lower concentration of lipids.
This helps explain why some of the smaller whale species can be in freezing climates.
In addition to keeping whales warm, blubber can also limit a whale’s ability to migrate to particular climates.
Whales that can stay in extreme climates may be so well insulated that they can only travel so far towards the tropical climates during migration before they become overheated and need to stop traveling.
Species that aren’t as well insulated tend to live in tropical climates year-round, and those that do travel are likely to be limited depending on their ability to stay warm in cold waters.
Blubber provides whales with nutrition and calories when they cannot consume food.
During migration,, some species may forgo eating for the entire trip and live off the supply of blubber they acquired while stocking up during feeding season.
Living off of their blubber may allow some species to reduce the amount of blubber their body contains by consuming it as calories, allowing them to live more comfortably in the tropical mating climates they migrate to during mating season by allowing them to be less restricted by the hotter weather.
When feeding season comes around, these whales travel back towards the polar regions, where they stock up on food, build up their supply of blubber and prepare for the next mating season.
Blubber Facts and Information
Blubber is an adipose tissue found under the skin of whales, dolphins, and porpoises, among other marine mammals.
It is responsible for keeping these animals and their vital organs warm while traveling worldwide throughout the ocean.
Blubber is especially useful in cold climates such as Antarctica, where waters can reach freezing temperatures.
Without a thick layer of blubber, whales and other marine mammals would be unable to stay warm and may suffer from internal damage or die from being surrounded by cold or freezing waters.
Interestingly the thickness of the whale’s blubber only plays a partial role in keeping these marine mammals warm.
Lipid concentration can play just as important an essential role in keeping these animals warm as the thickness of their blubber.
For example,, a whale with a thick layer of blubber but a low concentration of lipids may have more difficulty staying warm than a thin layer of blubber but high lipid concentration.
The blubber density is a much better heat insulator than fur because it encompasses the whole body, preventing the cold water or cold air from gaining contact with the inner body and vital organs.
In fact, with the right combination of blubber and lipids, a whale can survive in temperatures as low as (4 °C) 40 °F.
In addition to keeping whales warm, blubber may also act as a form of energy when certain species migrate from one location to another or when a whale has difficulty finding food over an extended period.
Some species have even been known to forgo eating for several months by living off the fat they stored in their blubber while traveling.
Besides staying warm and providing whales with energy, blubber may also play a role in buoyancy by helping whales float more quickly in the ocean.
Human Uses for Whale Blubber
In the past, whale blubber served several uses.
Certain tribes and Inuit Peoples used blubber as a source of food in their diet.
Blubber was known to contain a good source of vitamins and antioxidants,, which were believed to help these people grow strong and healthy.
Current research has shown that while whale blubber carries several vitamins and antioxidants,, it may also contain certain toxins and mercury, which can cause damage to the human body.
Whale blubber was also mainly used during the whaling era.
Whalers would hunt these large animals and kill them to extract their blubber.
The fat was then sold to various industries to make candles, cosmetics, soaps, transmission fluids, and other materials.
With hugely decreasing whale populations (which led to reforms and the elimination of the whaling industry) and advancements in alternative resources, the need for whale blubber eventually became obsolete.
While whaling has become largely illegal and outlawed in most places, whales are still hunted by some countries that sell whale meat as a food source for local buyers and restaurants.