For marine mammals, blubber is a very good thing indeed. Living in the water requires special adaptations and blubber happens to be a very important one. Blubber also provides important clues to scientists on the lifestyle of different marine mammals including their eating habits, where they hunt and find dinner, how many are there and how far and wide they range. Who knew you could tell all that by inspecting a marine mammal’s blubber?

According to the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, blubber can make up 50 percent of a marine mammal’s body mass during specific life stages. This is especially important for marine mammals who give birth in warmer and safer areas that have little access to food. Blubber reserves allow these animals to survive months without food while still raising young, which as we all know is a very high energy activity.

Blubber is actually a remarkable and amazing marine mammal attribute. More on blubber in the next post!