Whales are all efficient hunters who catch nimble prey.
But moderately sized representatives of these marine mammals should be able to accelerate, turn and change direction faster than their XXL relatives.
In fact, maneuverability decreases with increasing size.
However, far less drastic than expected.
An international group of zoologists has discovered that the giants among the whales perform unexpectedly well.
Over the course of ten years, Paolo S. Segre of Stanford University in Pacific Grove and his colleagues had observed nearly three hundred baleen whales, a member of the rorqualae family, for more than four thousand hours.
Seven different species were included, from the southern minke whale, averaging eight meters long and weighing six tons, to the blue whale, averaging 25 meters long and weighing 100 tons.