Too much sun exposure is bad for whales, too, says study
We're not the only ones who get summer tans. So do whales - and their DNA gets damaged in the process too, scientists say. The new findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, could lead to better sun protection products for humans.
We're not the only ones who get summer tans. So do whales - and their DNA gets damaged in the process too, scientists say.
The new findings, published in the journal , could lead to better sun protection products for humans.
The study authors already knew that the UV radiation in sunlight caused some whales' skin to react like human skin, forming sunburn-like blisters. But was this response similar at a molecular level, too?
To find out, the team analysed skin samples from the backs of 106 blue whales, 23 sperm whales and 55 fin whales during their annual migration from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of California.
In all three species, the number of cells that produce melanin increased over this time period as UV radiation levels rose, similar to what happens in humans.
Blue whales showed the greatest increase in melanin-producing cells, said Mark Birch-Machin, biologist at Newcastle University and a co-author of the study. The correlation between whale and human responses to sun exposure was "very clear and very pronounced", he said.
