2)The brain of the sperm whale is the biggest on earth, and perhaps the biggest brain of any animal that has ever lived.
Image: petroleumhistory.org |
4)Up to 1/3 of their body is taken up by their head - which is filled with a strange and complicated echolocating system that the whales use to see in the dark and communicate with each other.
5)The Sperm whale hunts a great variety of animals including Giant Squid and Colossal Squid. No-one has ever seen a sperm whale hunt a giant squid. Because the whales spend so much time in the extreme deep we know very little about them, so the chance to explore inside them is a rare opportunity to figure out how they live by looking at their incredible adaptations.
Image: amnh.org |
7)Sperm whales are born after about 15 months in the womb.
8)Females tend to stay with their mother and her social group, and will spend their whole lives with them, which could be over a century. Males leave the group and eventually live alone, travelling far away to polar regions and growing their enormous noses hunting in these richer waters.
9)Males are much bigger than the females - they can grow over 20m long and weigh over 60 tons.
10)Sperm whales are extremely social. They will co-operate to raise each-other's young and will protect each-other, even risking their own lives to fight off attacks on other sperm whales by their main enemy, the killer whales.
Image: seaworld.org |
12)Whales are mammals - they once walked around on land and at some point moved back into the sea.
13)Like us they have lungs, warm blood and breasts which they use to feed their babies milk. You can still find the whiskers of their deer-like ancestors poking out of their noses and inside their flippers are the bones of enormous mammal hands.
Image: whalesongs.org |
Malcolm
info: http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/inside-nature-s-giants-explores-worlds-biggest-and-loudest-predator
Thank you for sharing and providing your insights on the sperm whale. Also really liked the pictures.
ReplyDeleteWhales are a fascinating species and a lot of fun to learn about.