Blue whales, the largest animals on Earth, can eat about four tons of food a day — and when they're done digesting, there's still a whole lot of stuff left over. This aerial shot, taken by oceanographic consultant Eddie Kisfaludy off the Southern California coast, shows a blue whale and a truly enormous plume of its poop, the same vibrant orange as the krill on which the whales feed.
Whale feces, it turns out, plays a substantial role in ocean ecosystems. Since it floats to the surface, it brings nitrogen whales have taken in when they fed in the ocean's depths to shallow waters, providing a much-needed nutrient for plankton there. The massive mammals' poop also serves as a significant carbon sink; one study estimated that excrement from sperm whales in the Southern Ocean alone sequestered 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.
Researchers who study whales have found the ...
