How To Make a Blubber

Brrrr! That's what most people shout when they jump into cold water. Humans can't swim very long in very chilly water without a wet suit. But marine mammals, like polar bears and walruses, have no problem diving into icy seas. How come? One word: blubber. Blubber is a thick layer of fat that insulates animals. It keeps their body heat from escaping into the cold water. There is blubber in many sea creatures, including whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, manatees, and dugongs. The thickness of the blubber ranges from a few inches in dolphins and polar bears to a foot in some whales. Blubber is also a source of energy. When there’s no food around, marine mammals can live off their fatty layers. Humans have a layer of fat too, but it doesn’t do much insulating. Try this experiment to see how blubber can keep you warm.

You Don’t Believe It!

Blubber can make up to 50 percent of the body weight of some marine mammals. A blue whale has up to 50 tons of blubber. Blubber is a better insulator than fur for marine animals. Fur can get squashed and lose its insulating power.

What You Need

• Vegetable shortening, such as Crisco
• 2 ziplock sandwich bags
• A bowl of ice water with ice cubes

What To Do

1. Put vegetable shortening into one ziplock bag until it’s one-third filled.

2. Turn the other ziplock bag inside out. Place it inside the bag filled with shortening, and spread out the shortening in an even layer. The shortening should be trapped between the two bags like a layer of blubber.

3. Put your hand into the inside-out bag as much as possible to make them waterproof. If you can’t zip them, tape the opening to make the bags as airtight as possible.

4. Put your bare hand into the ice water to feel how cold it is. Then put your blubber mitten into the ice water. Does the water seem colder with the mitten hand or with the bare hand? Now imagine that the layer of shortening in the blubber is a few inches thick. How warm would it keep your hand?

Powerpuff Kids Factoid

Some types of whales can go six months without eating. They live off the blubber they saved up in the previous six months.

Keeping Warm

Blubber is just one way animals keep warm when the temperature drops. They have plenty of the other cool ways to deal with the cold.

• Anti-Freeze: The temperatures in Arctic and Antarctic waters would freeze solid the bodily fluids of most fish. But not the Arctic cod and other fish that swim in these waters. They have a kind of anti-freeze inside them. A special gene makes proteins that keep the blood of these fish from freezing.
• Fur Sure: Many Arctic animals have thick fur to stay warm. Besides its blubber, the polar bear has two layers of hair that keep it toasty. An outer layer of long, oily hair repels water. An inner layer of shorter hairs traps heat near the polar bear’s skin.
• Winter Pause: Cold-blooded nimals, such as snakes, frogs, and lizards, shut off their body systems during winter. They can live half alive, half dead, for weeks at a time.
• Shape Shifter: The Arctic fox is rounder than foxes that live in warmer areas. A round, plump shape holds in more heat than a longer shape. Arctic animals also tend to have shorter ears, tails, and legs, so less heat escapes.
• Dig Deep: Small mammals, like mice and voles, dig little underground nests, called burrows, and doze through the cold days. Bears and some other larger mammals hibernate, or sleep, through winter. They save energy during their winter-long snooze.

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