How the whales change the climate

 

21 October 2020

In the last fifty years, whales have been hunted to the

brink of extinction because of uncontrolled hunting.

The whaleswere used as a source of food and fuel,

but because of uncontrolled hunting there were

fewer and fewer whales each year. It was not until

the 1980’s people started to realize what was

happening and decided to make a change. Whales

are not just not giant pots of money, their actual living

creatures. But at that time they didn't know what a

significant role that  whales played.

Yes we know that whales eat fish and krill but they

don't only eat these creatures but they also keep

them alive. In fact they sustain the entire

ocean. Whales often eat in areas which are

pitch dark.But when they come up to the surface

to breathe they enter the photic zone. The photic

zone is the top of the water where there is enough light

for plants to grow and photosynthesis to happen.

When they are in the photic zone they  send plumes

into the water, these plumes(poo) are full of iron and

nitrogen, which are very scarce in the surface waters.

A plant called plankton (which is found at the

surface of the water) uses these nutrients for itself

to reproduce. Plankton is a plant that reduces

carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is one of the reasons

for climate change and therefore the more whales there

are the more plankton there is. But thats not the only

thing they do, when they swim they make any

plankton that is sinking to go back up to the top

giving it more time to reproduce. So we can blame the whales responsible for removing tens of millions of

tons of carbon each year, so they are slowing

global warming and changing the climate.

Save the whales!!!