All animals need water. Indeed, animals are mostly made of water.
A long time ago, back when the ancestors of modern whales were first
exploring an aquatic life style (during the Paleocene,around 55 million
years ago), some of the mammalian evolutionary experiments would forage
(hunt for food) in the sea, but crawl back to the beach and fresh water
areas (lakes and rivers) to drink fresh water. What an inconvenience!
Other animals found sufficient H2O (pure water) in the food they ate.
The latter development no longer required a trip to find fresh water.
It was this ability that proved more successful, and that group of
animals eventually evolved into the modern whales.
A similar condition of being able to get sufficient water from food
resources is also found in some desert animals and birds. Can you
identify them?
Think of it. If you ate mostly fresh juicy fruits (peaches, watermelon,
etc.) you would not have to drink much pure water to stay fully
hydrated.
Some good words for your vocabulary list: mammalian, forage,hydrate
Cheers,
Pieter Folkens
Alaska Whale Foundation
On Wednesday, March 19, 2003, at 08:12 AM, Eileen Miller wrote:
> Dear Doctor Folkens,
>
> Our third grade class is researching whales. One of our
> questions is “What do whales drink?” Do you know the answer? We can’t
> find the answer anywhere. Please help us.
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> C
> lass 3A atUpperSchoolinEnglewoodCliffs,New Jersey,USA
>
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