Earth's Largest Animals Have Two Hearts: The Special Theory of Evolution Validated and Its Implication for Blue Whale Conservation
IAAAM 2022

Richard H. Lambertsen1*

Ecosystems International, Inc., Newtown Square, PA, USA; Ecosystems Technology Transfer, Inc., University City Science Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 1Present address: West Melbourne, FL, USA


Abstract

The hypothesis that balaenopterids have an auxiliary right heart yielded a plausible explanation for the surprisingly short foraging dives and extremely fast growth rates of blue and fin whales. When the mouth is hydrostatically sealed, a second right heart would be powered by their muscular ventral pouch and the beating of an enormous tail. Opening the mouth to feed then is fairly assumed to bring about a sudden increase in brain PCO2. That powerful stimulus to breathe would owe to hydrogenation of plasma bicarbonate secondary to reduced hepatic clearance of lactate/H+. The primary benefit predicted is reduced incidence of shallow water blackout and drowning as the Δ[H+blood] required would not depend on systemic O2 depletion. A second benefit would be reduced risk of dysbarism. Increased survivorship would owe to tempering a potentially lethal urge to eat to satiation at depth by accentuation of respiratory drive with each feeding event. Here this hypothesis is tested by predicting the probability distribution of calving intervals in balaenopterids (rorquals) based on observations made by others on balaenids (right and bowhead whales).1 As the second heart hypothesized could exist only in the formerψ and would work in series with the thoracic heart, the minimum calving interval predicted for balaenopterids was half the 2-year minimum of balaenids (Table 1). This yielded a principal mode of two years in the probability distribution predicted (Figure 1), as is typical in rorquals.2

ψfor anatomical reasons.

Table 1

Species

Common name

Location and reference

Minimum

Maximum

Balaena mysticetus

Bowhead whale

Beaufort Seaa,3
Beaufort Seaa,3

2.67b
2.10c

3.80b
5.31c

Eubalaena australis

Southern right whale

Western South Atlantic4
Eastern South Atlantic1
Western South Pacific5
Western South Pacific6

2
2
2
2

15
15
6
9

Eubalaena glacialis

Northern right whale

Western North Atlantic7

2

13

a. Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Sea stock
b. Estimated postmortem by counting peaks in [progesterone] along length of baleen laminae and dividing by number of years of lamellar growth inferred by analysis of stable isotopes
c. Estimated postmortem based on average time frame between probable calving events defined by a decline from peaks in [progesterone] along length of baleen laminae to baseline [progesterone] levels measured along length of same

   

Figure 1
Predicted probability distribution of true calving intervals in balaenopterids (gray bars) based on that reported in a balaenid, the southern right whale (hatched bars) for its maximum likely 5-year maximum calving interval.1,4

 

Thus confirming that balaenopterids have two hearts, my results validate the special theory that natural selection in its most general form works diametrically in opposition to the formal argument codified by the Principle of Least Action,8 for it explains balaenopters being heavier than seawater as an adaptation to acquire free energy in the least time. A principal consequence of that adaptation is the diastolic force required for automatic function of their second heart.

One implication of the theory validated is that blue whales suffer an atypically high mortality rate. For this now is to be expected given that the average size of large rorquals inhabiting the Southern Hemisphere is greater than that of conspecifics from the Northern Hemisphere and that the estimated pre-exploitation abundance of blue whales is far less than that of fin whales.9,10 My results thus underscore the legitimacy of the ban on lethal exploitation of blue whales imposed by the International Whaling Commission.

Errata in Lambertsen (2008)8 previously published on the World Wide Web:

On page 5, “angular acceleration” to read “angular velocity”; “intensive purposes” on page 7 to read “intents and purposes”; “0≤γ≥1” in footnote 2 on page 9 to read: “0≤γ≤1”; “prediction of individuals for safety” on page 11 to read “predilection of individuals for safety”; “base intention…” on page 14 to read “base intention [;…]”.

Disclaimer

Elements of this research arose on account of a fellowship awarded to the author by the Committee on the Challenges of Modem Society, Division of Scientific Affairs, North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Views expressed herein are his and do not necessarily represent those of the Committee, NATO member countries, or any other entity.

Acknowledgments

I acknowledge with sincere thanks R. Hintz, F. Gulland, and J. Potvin for comments on drafts of the manuscript; S. Vogel for discussion about hydrodynamics; Ú. Ámason, J. Eisenberg, S. Gould, M. Hildebrand, and E. Mayr for discussion about evolution; A. DuBois, C. Lambertsen, and S. Ridgway for discussion about physiology; P. Best, J. Creek, J. George, W. Koski, C. Lambertsen, and S. Ohsumi for bibliographic assistance; H. Baagøe, O. Grönwall, T. Jauniaux, P. Jenkins, G. Lenglet, K. Loftsson, C. Potter, D. Robineau, M. Rutzmoser, C. Smeenk, K. Soerensen, U. Svensson, J. Wattel, E. Wexelsen, and F. Whitmore for access to specimens; R. Rowland for providing me with her report3 (with N. Lysiak, K. Graham, E. Burgess, K. Hunt, R. Fuller, and R. Hannigan) to the Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough, AK, and M. Melguen for inspiration. Funding came in part from grant INT-9024592 from the National Science Foundation of the United States (U.S.–Sweden Cooperative Project).

Literature Cited

1.  Best PB, Brandão A, Butterworth DS. 2001. Demographic parameters of southern right whales off South Africa. J Cetac Res Manage (Special Issue) 2:161–169.

2.  Boyd IL, Lockyer C, Marsh HD. 1999. Reproduction in marine mammals. In: Reynolds III JE, Rommel SA, editors. Biology of marine mammals. Washington (DC): Smithsonian Institution Press. p 218–286.

3.  Rowland RM, Lysiak NS, Graham KM, Burgess EA, Hunt KE, Fuller R, Hannigan R. 2018. Assessing stress and reproduction in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) using baleen hormones. Final report for North Slope Borough/Shell Baseline Studies Program Contract #2015-102; and as cited by Tarpley RJ, Hillman DJ, George JC, Thewissen JGM. 2021. Female and male reproduction. In: George JC, Thewissen JGM, editors. The bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus: biology and human interactions. London (UK): Academic Press. p 185–212.

4.  Payne R, Rowntree V, Perkins JS. 1990. Population size, trends and reproductive parameters of right whales (Eubalaena australis) off Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. Rep Int Whal Commn (Special Issue) 12:271–278.

5.  Burnell SR 2001. Aspects of the reproductive biology, movements and site fidelity of right whales off Australia. J Cetac Res Manage (Special Issue) 2:89–102.

6.  Watson M, Stamation K, Charlton C, Bannister J. 2021. Calving intervals, long-range movements and site fidelity of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) in south-eastern Australia. J Cetac Res Manage 22:17–28.

7.  Kraus SD, Hamilton PK, Kenney RD, Knowlton AR, Slay CK. 2001. Reproductive parameters of the North Atlantic right whale. J Cetac Res Manage (Special Issue) 2:231–236.

8.  Lambertsen RH. 2008. The evidently imminent phyletic transition of Homo sapiens into Homo militarensis (the military hominid). Newtown Square (PA): Ecosystems International, Inc. 19 p.ϯ

9.  Tomilin AG. 1967. Mammals of the USSR and adjacent countries. Vol. 9, Cetacea. Jerusalem (Israel): Israel Program for Scientific Translation. 717 p.

10.  Allen KRW. 1980. Conservation and management of whales. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 197 p.

 

ϯAccessioned in the U.S. Library of Congress under classification number QH 360.5.L36 2008.

 

Speaker Information
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Richard H. Lambertsen
Ecosystems International, Inc.
Newtown Square, PA, USA


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