It showed that the Antarctic minke whale, reaching a maximum of about 26 feet long, has the smallest possible body size to capture enough prey to survive using this feeding strategy.

A new study of Antarctic minke whales reveals a minimum size limit for whales employing the highly efficient "lunge-feeding" strategy that enabled the blue whale to become the largest animal on Earth.

Cade, D.E., Kahane-Rapport, S.R., Gough, W.T. et al. Minke whale feeding rate limitations suggest constraints on the minimum body size for engulfment filtration feeding. Nat Ecol Evol , 2023 DOI ...

It showed that the Antarctic minke whale, reaching a maximum of about 26 feet (8 meters) long, has the smallest possible body size to capture enough prey to survive using this feeding strategy.

It showed that the Antarctic minke whale, reaching a maximum of about 26 feet (8 meters) long, has the smallest possible body size to capture enough prey to survive using this feeding strategy ...

The whale in Long Beach Harbor was about 24 feet long, Milstein said, or "sub-adult" size, and was a male. There are an estimated 900 minke whales off Oregon, Washington and California.

The whale in Long Beach Harbor was about 24 feet long, Milstein said, or “sub-adult” size, and was a male. Advertisement There are an estimated 900 minke whales off Oregon, Washington and ...

The ability to engulf large amounts of prey-laden water is essential to making this feeding strategy pay off, and the energy efficiency increases with larger body size. An 80-ton blue whale, for ...