It just seems logically, bigger animals would eat bigger preys to meet their high energy/caloric needs. So why do whales, the largest animal in the world, eat such small animals (zooplankton)? Such a weird contrast. What is the biological reason for this?
In: Biology
Anything that eats krill is going to use 90% of that energy just keeping itself alive. It only uses 10% to contribute to growing its own body. If you eat the thing that eats the krill, you’re only getting 10% of the energy you could have gotten from eating the krill directly. This concept is called “feed conversion”.
If you’re able to eat small things directly, that’s an advantage because there are lots more of them. Whales can swim through water that’s full of krill, and they’re able to filter it out and eat it. It’s the most food they can get all in one place.
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