How do giant whales eat such small things?
Giant whales are big, but they eat tiny creatures called krill. They use clever tricks to get a lot of food from many tiny animals.
What is krill?
Krill are small shrimp-like creatures that swim in the ocean. They come in huge numbers, like oceanic snowflakes floating in the water.
How do whales catch krill?
- Open their mouths wide: When a whale feeds, it opens its huge mouth to take in a lot of water that contains krill.
- Filter the water: The whale has special plates called baleen in its mouth that act like a sieve, letting water pass through but trapping krill inside.
- Close and swallow: The whale closes its mouth and pushes the water out, keeping the krill inside to swallow quickly.
Why do they eat so much krill?
Krill are tiny, but there are millions of them. A big whale can eat a lot of krill in one feeding to get enough energy to swim, stay warm, and grow big and strong.
Fun fact
Some whales can eat up to several tons of krill in a day — that’s about as heavy as a small car!