“Great Whale Conveyor”
The migratory whales usually reach the summer at higher display lines for raising energy reserves to make long migration to low latitudes. It is still not clear exactly the reason for the transmission of whales, but it is possible that pregnant females in particular find that it is useful to give birth and the illnesses of their young in warm and shallow protected areas – perhaps to protect their offspring from predators such as deadly whales. Warm water also keeps the whale calves warm because it gradually develops the insulation layers of Blubber. Some scientists believe that whales may also migrate to wander their skin in that shallow, warm water itself.
Roman and others. It was examined for the spatial data available to the public for the lands of nutrition and whale reproduction, which are increased with their views of aircraft and ship surveys to fill the gaps in the data, then feed these data in their models to calculate the transfer of nutrients. Focus on six types known to migrate, seasonal on long distances from upper latitudes to lower latitude: blue whales, fin, gray whales, humpback whales, and right whales in the North Atlantic Ocean.
They found that whales can transport about 4000 tons of nitrogen every year during their migrations, along with 45,000 tons of biomass – and these numbers may be three times larger in previous times before the population exhausted to hunt industrial whales. “We call it” Great Whale Conveyor belt “,” Roman said. “You can also think about suppression, because whales feed on large areas, but they must be in a relatively confined space to find a companion, multiplication and generation. Initially, calves do not have energy for travel for long distances like mothers,” the study did not include any traces of whales that make stool or mix their skin, which would also contribute to the flow of kidney nutrients.
“Because of their size, whales are able to do things where there is no other animal. They live a life on a different scale,” Participated author Andrew Birching saidPhotographer or oceans in the central non -profit organization. “The nutrients come from the outside – not from a river, but through these migratory animals. It is very salt, and changes how we think about ecosystems in the ocean. We do not think about animals other than humans an effect on a planetary scale, but the whales do so really.”
Nature Communications, 2025. Doui: 10.1038/S41467-025-56123-2 (About Dois).