Long‐distance migration in whales has historically been described as an annual, round‐trip movement between high‐latitude, summer feeding grounds, and low‐latitude, winter breeding areas, but there is no consensus about why whales travel to the tropics to breed. Between January 2009 and February 2016, we satellite‐tagged 62 antarctic killer whales (Orcinus orca) of four different ecotypes, of which at least three made short‐term (6–8 weeks), long‐distance (maximum 11,000 km, round trip), essentially nonstop, migrations to warm waters (SST 20°C–24°C), and back. We previously suggested that antarctic killer whales could conserve body heat in subfreezing (to −1.9°C) waters by reducing blood flow to their skin, but that this might preclude normal (i.e., continuous) epidermal molt, and necessitate periodic trips to warm waters for routine skin maintenance (“skin molt migration,” SMM). In contrast to the century‐old “feeding/breeding” migration paradigm, but consistent with a “feeding/molting” hypothesis, the current study provides additional evidence that deferred skin molt could be the main driver of long‐distance migration for antarctic killer whales. Furthermore, we argue that for all whales that forage in polar latitudes and migrate to tropical waters, SMM might also allow them to exploit rich prey resources in a physiologically challenging environment and maintain healthy skin.

中文翻译：

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游戏中的皮肤：表皮蜕皮是鲸类长距离迁移的驱动力

过去，鲸的长距离迁徙被描述为在高纬度夏季取食场和低纬度冬季繁殖区之间的年度往返运动，但是对于鲸鱼为何前往热带地区进行繁殖尚无共识。在2009年1月至2016年2月之间，我们对62颗南极虎鲸（Orcinus orca）的四种不同生态类型，其中至少有三种是短期（6-8周），长距离（最长11,000公里，往返），基本上是不间断的，向温暖水域迁移（SST 20°C-24°C） ）， 然后回来。我们之前曾建议，南极虎鲸可以通过减少流向其皮肤的血液来在低于冰点（至-1.9°C）的水中保存体热，但是这可能会阻止正常的（即，连续的）表皮蜕皮，并且需要定期去温水用于日常皮肤维护（“皮肤蜕皮迁移”，SMM）。与具有数百年历史的“饲养/繁殖”迁移范例相反，但与“饲养/蜕变”假说相符，当前的研究提供了更多证据表明，延迟蜕皮可能是南极虎鲸长距离迁移的主要驱动力。 。此外，