Amazing animals – marine mammals with Dr Vanessa Pirotta

It’s time to take a splash in the sea with five fun and fascinating fast facts about marine mammals, an interview with Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist who knows a lot about whales, and there’s a warm-blooded blubber activity for you to try yourself at home.

Written, presented, and produced by Jenny Lynch.
Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

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Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

03:49 Dugongs and manatees

04:31 Interview with Dr Vanessa Pirotta

11:06 Blubber fingers activity

Dr Vanessa Pirotta: https://www.vanessapirotta.com/

Books by Dr Vanessa Pirotta: ‘The Voyage of Whale and Calf’, ‘Oceans at Night’, ‘Humpback Highway’

Blubber fingers activity instructions:

Marine mammals have lots of special adaptations to help them survive in the sea. One of these adaptations is whale blubber, which is a layer of fat that keeps warm-blooded whales warm in cold ocean water.

You will need: a bowl, cold water from the fridge, ice cubes, two disposable gloves, a spoon, and some soft butter or margarine. If you don’t have any disposable gloves, try using two small plastic bags instead.

This activity is pretty messy, so do it next to a sink, with soap and warm water ready for washing your hands at the end.

1. Fill the bowl with cold water and add some ice cubes to the water to make it really cold.
2. Scoop 2 big spoonfuls of soft butter or margarine into one of the disposable gloves and squeeze the butter or margarine down into the fingers of the glove, pushing any air bubbles out of the fingers.
3. Put the other glove on one of your hands first. 
4. Put the glove filled with butter or margarine on your other hand and make sure your fingers are covered with the butter or margarine. 
5. Carefully place the fingers of both of your hands into the ice-cold water.
   Try to keep your fingers in the water for at least 2-minutes, but take them out of the water if they feel too cold. What do you notice?

Your buttery fingers should last longer in the water because the butter is protecting your fingers from the icy cold water. Heat energy always moves from a warm object to a colder object and the butter is acting as an ‘insulator’ because it slows down the movement of heat energy out of your fingers.

A lot of cold-climate animals have blubber. Seals, whales, and polar bears, all have a layer of blubber to stop them losing too much heat from their bodies.