Why whales don't get brain damage when they swim
Published:07 Oct.2022 Source:ScienceDaily
Special blood vessels in whale brains may protect them from pulses, caused by swimming, in their blood that would damage the brain, new research has suggested.
There are many theories as to the exact use of these networks of blood vessels cradling a whale's brain and spine, known as 'retia mirabilia', or 'wonderful net', but now UBC zoologists believe they've solved the mystery, with computer modeling backing their predictions.The researchers collected biomechanic parameters from 11 cetacean species, including, fluking frequency, and input these data into a computer model.
"Our hypothesis that swimming generates internal pressure pulses is new, and our model supports our prediction that locomotion-generated pressure pulses can be synchronized by a pulse transfer mechanism that reduces the pulsatility of resulting flow by up to 97 per cent,"says senior author Dr. Robert Shadwick, professor emeritus in the UBC department of zoology.