Cheap gulp foraging of a giga-predator enables efficient exploitation of sparse prey

Simone K.A. Videsen; Malene Simon; Fredrik Christiansen; Ari Friedlaender; Jeremy Goldbogen; Hans Malte; Paolo Segre; Tobias Wang; Mark Johnson; Peter T. Madsen

doi:10.1126/sciadv.ade3889

Cheap gulp foraging of a giga-predator enables efficient exploitation of sparse prey

Simone K.A. Videsen, Malene Simon, Fredrik Christiansen, Ari Friedlaender, Jeremy Goldbogen, Hans Malte, Paolo Segre, Tobias Wang, Mark Johnson, Peter T. Madsen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The giant rorqual whales are believed to have a massive food turnover driven by a high-intake lunge feeding style aptly described as the world's largest biomechanical action. This high-drag feeding behavior is thought to limit dive times and constrain rorquals to target only the densest prey patches, making them vulnerable to disturbance and habitat change. Using biologging tags to estimate energy expenditure as a function of feeding rates on 23 humpback whales, we show that lunge feeding is energetically cheap. Such inexpensive foraging means that rorquals are flexible in the quality of prey patches they exploit and therefore more resilient to environmental fluctuations and disturbance. As a consequence, the food turnover and hence the ecological role of these marine giants have likely been overestimated.

Original language	English
Article number	ade3889
Journal	Science Advances
Volume	9
Issue	25
Pages (from-to)	eade3889
Number of pages	10
ISSN	2375-2548
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade3889 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade3889
Publication status	Published - Jun 2023

Keywords

Animals
Biomechanical Phenomena
Feeding Behavior
Humpback Whale
Energy Metabolism
Food

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10.1126/sciadv.ade3889Licence: CC BY-NC
10.1126/sciadv.ade3889

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title = "Cheap gulp foraging of a giga-predator enables efficient exploitation of sparse prey",

abstract = "The giant rorqual whales are believed to have a massive food turnover driven by a high-intake lunge feeding style aptly described as the world's largest biomechanical action. This high-drag feeding behavior is thought to limit dive times and constrain rorquals to target only the densest prey patches, making them vulnerable to disturbance and habitat change. Using biologging tags to estimate energy expenditure as a function of feeding rates on 23 humpback whales, we show that lunge feeding is energetically cheap. Such inexpensive foraging means that rorquals are flexible in the quality of prey patches they exploit and therefore more resilient to environmental fluctuations and disturbance. As a consequence, the food turnover and hence the ecological role of these marine giants have likely been overestimated.",

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Cheap gulp foraging of a giga-predator enables efficient exploitation of sparse prey. / Videsen, Simone K.A.; Simon, Malene; Christiansen, Fredrik et al.
In: Science Advances, Vol. 9, No. 25, ade3889, 06.2023, p. eade3889.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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AU - Videsen, Simone K.A.

AU - Simon, Malene

AU - Christiansen, Fredrik

AU - Friedlaender, Ari

AU - Goldbogen, Jeremy

AU - Malte, Hans

AU - Segre, Paolo

AU - Wang, Tobias

AU - Johnson, Mark

AU - Madsen, Peter T.

PY - 2023/6

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Cheap gulp foraging of a giga-predator enables efficient exploitation of sparse prey

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Keywords

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