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[scottobear]

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Random factoid - The world's largest whales are blue whales, and these excrete a minimum of 2 percent of their body weight--about 3 tons--each day.

Comments

[peradouro.livejournal.com]

Holy moly. And I was wondering when I learned about plankton and little critters "what do they eat" I wondered. Now I shall wonder no more.

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

yup.. the output is primarily liquid, if you're curous about consistance. :)

I'm still wondering about it.. that's like a 200 lb man having a 4lb poop a day!

[peradouro.livejournal.com]

Actually it being mostly liquid kind of surprises me but makes sense as their food is so small. I imagine it's more beneficial to the tiny critters since it wouldn't fall to the bottom or rise to the top. I bet my dad could've pulled off 4 pound poops after he ate at White Castle.

[ldy.livejournal.com]

Randomlink for Scotto! Randomlink for Scotto!

Via boingboing.net:

http://members.shaw.ca/tom.t/unh/index.html

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

thanks! they's wher eI got the superman headach icon I had about a year back.. I lost the link. :)

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

http://members.shaw.ca/tom.t/unh/u35.html

[drakainai.livejournal.com]

Their Calves are 23 to 27 feet long at birth and 3 tons! Imagine squeezing that out of your pie hole - ouch!!

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't want to squeeze that out of *any* hole!

[sweetalyssm.livejournal.com]

Narsty...and environmental groups get on our backs about dumping sewage off boats..hehe

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

One has to wonder if that could be harvested and used as some kind of fertilizer. :)

[sweetalyssm.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I'm sure....but once again the environmental groups would get mad at that one because it's disturbing to the eco-system.

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

So true.. I wonder what little sea-going critters would miss the great poo-tonnage?

It must be like finding a giant grocery store with an "all you can carry for free" sign when they hit that stream of whale-waste.

[sweetalyssm.livejournal.com]

haha, perhaps, but I think it's much rougher than that....

One critter's "All you can eat" is another bigger critter's "All you can catch."

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

That's life as part of the food chain!

Now you make me wonder how closely the poo-eater-eaters follow behind the whales, looking for another snack bar. :)

[sweetalyssm.livejournal.com]

Oh you can bet that they have followers or "hanger-oners"

I saw something on the Discovery Channel about that...how animals for "partnerships" and benefit from another animals behaviors and so forth.

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I remember one about the shakes and their "cleaning crews" that ride along and follow.. I wonder how many predator/prey layers follow the waste-stream... is it a tight loop like only 2 or three, or does it go out a dozen long?

[sweetalyssm.livejournal.com]

oh, I think it goes on and on...in some sort of way.

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Better listen to those Star Trek people then, and keep an eye on them.. how apart would the ecology fall if the whales (and by association, the poop) were removed?