WHY DOES THIS GIANT SHARK EAT TINY FOOD? | WHALE SHARK

[00:00:00]Hi everyone. Welcome to Smart Saplings.

[00:00:03]Come join [music] us for today's amazing animal adventure.

[00:00:09]It has whale in its name, but it is really the biggest fish on earth. The amazing whale shark. White spots, pale stripes, and three long body ridges make this giant shark look like a swimming starry [music] sky.

[00:00:25]Most whale sharks are 4 to 12 m long, but the biggest confirmed was nearly 19 m long. Whale sharks live in warm oceans worldwide, visiting sunny coasts, coral reefs, and a wide stretches of open blue water.

[00:00:44]They travel huge distances following warm water, plankton blooms, and fish eggs that appear during special spawning seasons.

[00:00:53]Its enormous front mouth pulls in food-filled seawater like a gentle underwater vacuum without biting or chewing. This enormous fish eats tiny plankton, krill, fish eggs, and little fish. Some meals are smaller than your fingernail. When food gathers in a thick cloud, the whale shark follows it and uses [music] suction to scoop up the tiny feast. A whale shark has thousands of tiny teeth, but it does not use them to bite or chew its meals.

[00:01:28]Special filters trap the [music] tiny food while extra water flows back out through five large gill [music] slits.

[00:01:36]Its tall shark tail swings from side to side.

[00:01:40]A real whale moves its flat tail up and down instead.

[00:01:45]Whale sharks often feed near the surface, but they can dive more than 1,000 m into the deep ocean.

[00:01:53]Each whale shark has its own spot pattern like a fingerprint. So, photographs help scientists recognize [music] the same shark again. Tiny tooth-like scales protect its eyes, and it can even pull each [music] eye slightly backward when danger comes near. An adult's tough skin can be about 10 cm thick and is covered with tiny tooth-like scales called denticles. The eggs hatch inside the mother before life pops are born.

[00:02:26]One mother carried more than 300 developing babies.

[00:02:31]Whale sharks do not hunt people, but they are enormous wild animals, so swimmers must give them plenty of space.

[00:02:40]Whale sharks [music] are endangered.

[00:02:42]Fishing nets and ship strikes can hurt them, so protecting their feeding areas is very important.

[00:02:49]Largest fish, spotty skin, filter-feeding mouth, side-to-side tail, and deep dives. Wow! Get ready for a quick quiz. What does a whale shark eat?

[00:03:03]Which way does its tail move? Great remembering. Now, it is time for our special goodbye.

[00:03:11]Thanks for watching, friends.

[00:03:13]>> [music] >> Don't forget to subscribe, and we'll see you on our next amazing animal adventure. Bye.