For these baleen whales, hunting requires little more than treading water

Rorqual whales are known for their impressive lunge-feeding behavior. As the name suggests, this method involves lunging forward with mouth opened wide to engulf large quantities of water, which is then strained through a series of baleen plates to leave many individually tiny prey behind. But researchers reporting in Current Biology on November 6 have made the surprising discovery that Bryde’s whales also find food in a much more relaxed way: they simply lift their heads at the surface, allowing water and prey to flow in.