I understand, generally, *how* they got that big but not *why*. What was the evolutionary advantage to their massive size? Is there one? Or are they just big for the sake of being big?
In: Biology
The trend towards larger whale species seems to coincide with Ice Age cycles.
Being so large and having so much more insulation meant that Blue Whales could stay underwater longer, and go deeper meaning that they can continue to feed when the polar ice sheets extended south and their food source krill became more scarce.
Many smaller species of whale went extinct during the Ice Ages leaving the larger species to thrive.
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