We can't promise exactly how many whales students will see close-up during LFA 2, but we hope to record at least a few as our crew travels to Palmer. This Activity allows students to model some key features of whale physiology in a very direct way.
Whales are warm-blooded mammals who spend their entire lives in the open sea.
Their transition from land-dwelling creatures to the oceans over 50 million years presented whales with great physical problems to solve. So the degree of thermal protection they need can vary 5-fold. Going from rest to maximum activity produces another 10-fold change in metabolic heat production. Students will probably cite blubber as what keeps whales warm, but ironically, during times of great exertion, it also prevents them from cooling off. Ask students if they think the water changed in any way as it traveled through the tube.