Blue whales are the largest animal on the planet. They can grow to over 100 feet long and weigh up to 130 tons, (260,000 pounds). At birth, a blue whale calf is around 23 feet long and will weigh 5,000 to 6,000 pounds. They need a lot of space.
The Blue Whale
On the other hand, an adult sea otter grows to 4 or 5 feet and weighs around 100 pounds. When the mothers dive for food, they tie their offspring into kelp to ensure that they will not float away, (just a fun observation).
Sea Otters
The thing is, they share the same ocean, but require very different space in the ocean, just by virtue of who they are.
The same is true for plants. A redwood tree can grow to be 300 feet tall and more than 20 feet in diameter. Just as an aside, they capture more CO2 than any other tree on earth. They need a lot of space.
Redwood Forest
Sea oats grow to around 6 feet tall at maturity and have leaves around 2 feet long. They tolerate salt spray, grow near the ocean shore, and are vital in shoreline stabilization.
Sea Oats
Zooplankton, (tiny animals), and phytoplankton, (tiny plants), range in size from 2 micrometers (smaller than a human red blood cell) up to several inches. They drift in large bodies of water such as the oceans and lakes. An Individual plankton doesn’t take up much space but, as small as they are, they are immensely important to ‘life on earth.’
Glowing Plankton
People take up space too. And everybody needs their own space just like every other plant and animal on our planet. The point is that we all take up space and need our own space and we all need to give each other their own space.
Volume is the three-dimensional space occupied by a substance or enclosed by a surface. The formula for determining the volume of space an object takes up is (l) x (w) x (h), where (l) is length, (w) is width, and (h) is height.
Personal space for humans is the distance from another person at which one feels comfortable when talking to or being next to that other person.
Well, to some extent, plants and animals need their personal space as well. Have you ever been dive-bombed by a mockingbird, for instance, because it felt you were getting too close to its nest? Or wonder why trees in the wild need so much space between them and their neighbors to grow properly?
A honey bee hive may hold 2000 bees and have a volume of only around 2 cubic feet but the bees need approximately an acre, (43,560 square feet), of wild blossoming flowers, trees, and shrubs to survive.
Human beings need space in a similar way that honey bees do. We live in homes that take up a relatively smaller area than what we need to survive. Many of us go to the supermarket to get the food we need, but that food is grown, cultivated, and raised over large areas.
So, to be healthy, to grow, and to get along together in this great big beautiful world, we all need our own space.
