Here’s some important life advice: do not try to challenge a short-finned pilot whale ( Globicephala macrorhynchus) to a squid-eating contest. Research out today shows that these marine mammals can pack away hundreds of live calamari a day.

For the first time ever, a large international team of researchers has quantified the diets of short-finned pilot whales living in the waters near Hawaii. They found that a single whale can consume up to 200 squid a day, while whales in the region may collectively eat around 416 million squid a year. Despite the hefty numbers, the local squid population is doing just fine, as are the whales that feast on them, the researchers say.

“Luckily for us and for the pilot whales, squid reproduce quickly and have high growth rates, meaning the pilot whales h

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