When Whales Eat Underwater

Consider whales. They spend their lives on the water and resemble fish, but they are animals. Air-breathing mammals. The largest animal on Earth is the blue whale, and it eats mighty small shrimp-like critters known as krill.

When a baleen whale eats those little things, they do what is called lunge feeding and take in a huge quantity of them. They also gulp down water, and blast it out through the blow hole up top. Have you ever wondered how they eat without drowning?

Blue whale image from NOAA Fisheries (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents)

Whales eat underwater many times each day, and a large number of functions for closing off airways and such happen automatically. Obviously, we be submerged and eat successfully. Something else that cannot be done is for those jaspers who invoke evolution as empirical science to be able to give us evidence for this alleged evolution. Some people think and ask questions, and don't just gulp down what "scientists say."

Sure, some good observational science happened. It was tainted by bowing to the Bearded Buddha. But then, they think life evolved in the sea, did further evolution on land, then some wolf-like critter got a notion to turn around and evolve into sea mammals. Makes perfect sense. No, not really. What does make sense is that they are describing evidence for the Master Engineer's work, but refuse to give him credit.

More complicated than expected: scientists at the University of British Columbia figured out “why whales don’t drown when they gulp down food underwater” in a press release dated 20 January. One scientist said it would be like you “swimming at high speed towards a hamburger and opening your mouth wide as you approached” and then swallowing it without flooding your lungs.

Researchers found that lunge-feeding whales have an ‘oral plug’, a fleshy bulb in their mouths that moves backwards to seal off the upper airways during feeding, while their larynx closes to block the lower airways.

We humans have a seal that closes off the nasal passages and seals the windpipe when swallowing, but whales have a much bigger problem. Part of it is due to their massive bulk. Body parts like theirs have to move bigger distances in enough time. Dr Kelsey Gil explains how multiple protective mechanisms have to move simultaneously to prevent the whale from drowning:

To read the entire article, see "How Whales Swallow Underwater."