I was just watching National Geographic..?

Question

and they say walruses and whales have so much fat on them. Do they get heart attacks?

Answer 1

no they need their fat for insulation, its good for them

its called blubber

Answer 2

I've helped do autopsies on many whales over the years, and not only have I never seen or heard of a cetacean having a heart attack, I have had the opportunity to examine many whale arteries and I have yet to see any plaque, which is what causes heart disease in humans.  

Cetaceans have a very different relationship with fat than humans have.  Not only do most of them have at least some blubber under the skin, they have much more fat in every part of their bodies than we do except their brains, which have almost the same amount of fat per pound as our brains, but brains are mostly fat to begin with.

Regular cows milk has 4% butterfat, and human milk has 2%, but cetacean milk is over 50% butterfat, literally half and half.  When you consider that baby gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) drink 50-200 glasses of that milk at a time when they nurse, you begin to understand how baby grays can gain 50 to 100 pounds per day on mother's milk alone.

Also, in cetaceans, the arteries leading to the extremities are paired with veins coming back to provide a very efficient means of retaining heat in the body core.  And the blubber, long thought to be there for insulation, may be far more important as a source of fresh water, if they are able to efficiently retain the water produced by fat metabolism, as some of us now suspect.

Answer 3

No the fats only on the surface (blubber) not in the arteries like some of our larger then life friends.

Answer 4

Not normally. This fat is used for insulation to keep thier body temperatures up in relativley cold water

Answer 5

nah. They get all that blubber from eating fish filled with Omega 3.

They need it to keep them warm in the polar waters and to help them float