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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated

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To: Ilaine who wrote (111856)	4/30/2005 6:51:46 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) of 793926

looking for the whale turd You got me wondering since I had never imagined a whale turd. (Starting off slowly this morning, I am. <g>) So I checked it out. It would seem that there's no such thing. "Thank you for your question regarding whale excretory systems. Whales have liquid excretions (both urine and faeces) and must deal with ridding their bodies of excess salt by excreting it via urine and faeces. Whales have specialized kidneys that enable them to release high salt concentrations via large quantities of urine. Digestion occurs in a 4-chambered stomach utilizing things like small rocks to assist in breaking down food. I don't know the standard whale stool mass. One calculation by E. J. Slijper, 1979 , Whales, states that 4/5ths of the herring which dolphins eat consists of water, of which a maximum of 20% is lost by the production of faeces and by exhalation, so that 80% can go into the productin of urine. In addition whales have a high metabolic rate and seem to oxydize fats moreso than carbohydrates and proteins which causes them to lose even more water - thus excretion of salt is critical as is maintaining appropriate fresh water levels in the body. Toothed whales such as orcas do not suffer as much from fresh water loss as the larger baleen whales because they consume things such as birds and other marine mammals that have a high fresh water content in their bodies and opposed to krill which maintains the same salinity level as sea-water. Faeces of whales will contain undigested materials like fish eyes, squid beaks - depending on the diet of the particular species. I hope this information helps you. Thank you and happy holidays." whale.wheelock.edu

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