A thick layer of fat beneath the skin of marine mammals such as whales, seals, and walruses. Blubber provides insulation in cold water, energy storage, and buoyancy control.
From Middle English 'blober' meaning bubble or foam, originally referring to the bubbling fat of whales when heated. The term became specifically associated with whale fat in the 1600s during the height of whaling.
Blubber is like nature's ultimate wetsuit, so effective that it allows whales to maintain body temperatures of 98°F in near-freezing Arctic waters! Some whale species have blubber layers over two feet thick, and this adaptation was so successful that it enabled mammals to become the ocean's largest predators.
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