The largest animals to ever live are intensely dependent on some of the smallest. Blue whales feed exclusively on tiny marine organisms — especially krill — and rely on huge numbers of them.
But blue whales face a number of challenges in finding their food. The ocean is a big place, for one thing. Finding a needle in a haystack is probably a lot easier than finding a patch of krill in the ocean. There are also logistical hurdles: blue whales need to find dense enough patches that it’s worth spending the energy to eat them. How blue whales hone in on these rich feeding areas has been a mystery, but recently published research points to a remarkable method: chasing the wind.
