How fast should a dead whale cool?

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Innes, Stuart
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1986
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Balaenoptera physalus; Fin whale
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z86-312; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z86-312

Postmortem heat generation has recently been invoked to explain a core temperature of 28 °C in a 13-m fin whale Balaenoptera physalus 8-days after death. To investigate this suggestion further, heat transfer by a dead whale's mid-body region was modelled using finite difference equations for unsteady state conduction to predict tissue temperatures. The resulting simulations suggest that postmortem heat production is not necessary to explain Brodie's observation, and that the slow rate of cooling can be explained by the thermal inertia of a large body mass.