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
The reason is that it’s easy prey to catch, filter and eat.
It’s nutritious, ever-present, harmless and easy to do.
>It just seems logically, bigger animals would eat bigger preys to meet their high energy/caloric needs.
Only if you’re making assumptions. Bigger predators need bigger prey, which is harder to catch, kill and eat. Which takes more energy, presents more risk, causes you to have to expend more energy moving and hunting.
Cows are bigger than humans but they only eat grass. By your logic that shouldn’t happen?
Grass is easy to catch, plentiful, regenerates and there isn’t much competition for it. And it doesn’t fight back. Same for krill and plankton.
>So why do whales, the largest animal in the world, eat such small animals (zooplankton)? Such a weird contrast.
The biggest land animal alive today is the elephant. What do they eat? Vegetation.
What was the biggest land animal ever? A plant-eating dinosaur.
What’s the biggest water animal ever? A plant and plankton-eating whale.
It’s not a weird contrast, it’s the norm. You’re just assuming it shouldn’t be based on flawed thinking and missing knowledge.
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