Cases of sperm whale attacks on humans. Why is the sperm whale dangerous? whaling floating base "Slava"
The body of the sperm whale is hairless, almost smooth, with a very thick layer of subcutaneous fat, which serves as a thermal insulator. A few bristles survived only on the muzzle. On the lower jaw there are 18–30 pairs of teeth without enamel, the largest of which weigh almost 2.6 kg each. The pectoral fins are broad and bluntly rounded. Body color varies from grayish-brown to black-brown.
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The stomach is very large - it holds more than 500 liters of liquid. The kidneys are twice as large as those of land animals, because they have to remove from the body a large amount of salts that come with sea water. The length of the intestine is about 160 meters, but its device is extremely simplified. The first riddle: why does a carnivore have such a huge intestine?
There are still incomprehensible phenomena associated with sperm whales. For example, why are the nostrils not directed upwards, as in all whales, but obliquely forward?
It is known that sperm whales can stay under water, without air for more than an hour, and go to a depth of more than 1200 meters. The paradox is that the lungs of the sperm whale are smaller than those of other whales, and you have to hold your breath for a long time ... So, here's another mystery.
The sperm whale is a real giant. He is already born four meters and very quickly grows to 18 meters. The old sperm whale weighs more than 50 tons, others under 100. Among the sperm whales, there are also real babies. For example, the pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) or kogia has a dolphin-shaped body 2.4-3.3 m long (males are slightly larger than females), weighing up to 300 kg. These cetaceans live in the warm ocean zone and are very rare.
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Sperm whales swim in all oceans except the Arctic. In summer, they migrate from the subtropics to cold waters and swim in the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. You can often find them off the coast of West Africa and Japan. Sperm whales are the only ones who cross the equator when migrating.
The sperm whale feeds on cephalopods (80%) and a small amount of fish (spiny sharks, sea urchins, pollock, cod, saury, gobies). Can prey on very large cephalopods (squid). Mollusks up to 18 meters long were sometimes found in his stomach. Hunting for them, the whale dives for hundreds of kilometers.
Sperm whales have no sense of smell, poor eyesight, but excellent hearing. Studies have shown that sperm whales communicate with each other through signals, and navigate in space and find food through echolocation (like bats).
The sperm whale is classified as an animal dangerous to humans. But what is this danger if he does not specifically hunt people? There can be two reasons: he attacks either out of fear or out of revenge.
In 1820, an enraged sperm whale rammed the Essex twice. The ship weighed almost 5.5 tons, but the whale was able to sink it. Only a few people survived. Small wooden boats, weighing as much as a small whale, often suffer from such rams. What can we say about small fishing boats ...
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Sperm whales can swallow people whole without chewing. A sperm whale was caught by the schooner "Star of the East", and three whole human skeletons were found when it was torn open. It is not difficult to imagine what a painful death these poor fellows had, because they were digested alive.
More often, tragedies happen when the sperm whale is frightened. Then he starts to defend and attack. He takes the big boats on which people swim for a large animal, and therefore attacks them.
In addition, we must remember the existence of whaling ships. If the sperm whale manages to escape once, after that it will be hostile to any boat with people. It seems that you have already convinced yourself of the power this giant has, so you only have to guess about the fate of the ship that the sperm whale decides to attack.
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Length: up to 18 meters The weight: more than 50 tons Habitat: swim in all oceans except the Arctic. |
The materials of the column are based on reports from the following journals: "New Scientist" (Great Britain), "Mare" and "Psychologie Heute" (Germany), "Science News", "Scientific American" and "Skeptic Magazine" (USA), "Ça m' interesse”, “Science et Vie Junior” and “Sciences et Avenir” (France).
The book of the prophet Jonah (part of the Old Testament) says:
“And the Lord commanded a great whale to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of this whale for three days and three nights.” But the matter ended happily, the swallowed begged for mercy, the whale spat him out, and the prophet still managed to save the inhabitants of Nineveh from death, warning them that if they did not repent of their sins, the city would be destroyed.
Could something like this actually happen? In 1896, off the Falkland Islands, the American whaling ship Star of the East was attacked by a huge sperm whale. Waving his tail, he knocked one of the sailors, James Bartley, off the deck into the water. Teammates thought James had drowned. However, when, two days later, the chase of this whale was nevertheless obtained, raised to the deck and began to butcher, they found in its stomach, as the New York Times wrote on November 26, 1896, “something twisted, from time to time showing signs of life” . It turned out to be a missing sailor, unconscious, but alive. He spent 36 hours inside the sea monster.
The English zoologist Ambrose Wilson, who thought about this problem in the 1920s, believed that the survival of a person swallowed by a whale was, in principle, possible. It all depends on which whale will swallow it and how long the victim will remain in the stomach. The baleen whale feeds on plankton and cannot swallow anything larger than a grapefruit. However, a large sperm whale weighs up to 50 tons, has a length of up to 20 meters. It consumes one and a half tons of food per day and swallows it mostly without chewing. Professor Wilson unearthed in the archives a case in 1771, when a sperm whale bit a whaler's boat in two, swallowed one sailor and went deep into the depths. Resurfacing again, he spat out the sailor "heavily scratched, but without serious injury."
Modern scientists confirm the conclusions of the Englishman. The sperm whale feeds on cephalopods and, to a lesser extent, fish. A man could fit in the mouth of a sperm whale or in his esophagus. The sperm whale has teeth on the lower jaw, and there are only one or two pairs on the upper jaw, so it often swallows its victims whole. So, in the 50s of the last century, a ten-meter squid, not chewed and not digested, was found in the stomach of a sperm whale caught off the Azores. Squid, apparently, remain alive in the stomach for some time, since traces of suckers, which are equipped with squid tentacles, can be seen on the walls of the stomach. This means that a person can survive for some time. True, on a sailor swallowed in November 1896, the results of whale digestion were visible: as the newspaper wrote at the time, “Bartley's skin was digested in places. His hands and face were so pale that he looked like a dead man, and his skin was all covered with wrinkles, as if he had been boiled in a cauldron.
But in general, the sailor clearly did not get into the main section of the stomach, where digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid are secreted, but lingered in its first section, lined with keratinized cells and occupied only by the mechanical processing of the swallowed. The channel leading to the next sections of the whale's stomach, where there is gastric juice, is too narrow for a person to pass through.
As for the ability to breathe in the stomach of a whale, experts suggest that the sperm whale, along with James Bartley, could also swallow a volume of air sufficient for a person to breathe for a while. But a three-day stay in the stomach of a whale, as happened with Jonah, is actually impossible. This story should be understood as a moralizing allegory.
When setting sail, the ship's crew must be prepared for anything - in open water, danger can come from anywhere. The first line in the list of potential enemies of the ship, of course, is occupied by the elements, but the threat can also come from living beings.
Kraken, a giant sea monster, remains a myth so far, but quite real creatures can attack a ship from the depths. History knows many cases of whale attacks on ships - and the consequences were often tragic.
The sperm whale is not the largest whale on the planet, but definitely the most aggressive. Legends of its ferocity have been circulating among sailors since time immemorial, but, of course, whalers stand apart in this row.
One of the fundamental principles of life is that for every action there is a reaction, and in the case of a wounded and enraged sperm whale, the reaction to the hunters can be fatal. The most famous case of a sperm whale fighting a man is the destruction of the Essex, which occurred in 1820. The tragedy of an American whaling ship, leaving the port in the status of "lucky", entered the annals and served as the basis for the plot of one of the cult novels of the twentieth century - "Moby Dick". However, its author Herman Melville told only half of the story.
In 2015, viewers around the world will see the full picture for the first time - the epic canvas “In the Heart of the Sea”, based on the novel of the same name by Nathaniel Philbrick, which won the 2000 National Book Award, is released. The new blockbuster will lift the veil of secrecy over the terrible consequences of the disaster, when the escaping team members found themselves in a desperate situation and took unimaginable measures to survive. Fighting storms, hunger, panic and hopelessness, they will have to question their deepest beliefs - from the value of their own lives to the ethics of their very profession - as their captain paves the way on the high seas, and his first mate still tries against all odds. defeat a huge whale.
The story of the Essex was the first documented case of sperm whales attacking whaling ships - and far from the last. In 1840, the American brig Desmond lost two sailors after a sperm whale blew two whaleboats pointing in its direction to pieces. A year later, the John Dye, fishing off Cape Horn, suffered similar losses. In this case, people still got off lightly, because the sperm whale wounded by the harpoon was not going to leave the place of the fight with the whaleboats - the hunters swimming among the wreckage survived by a miracle.
Diana Serebrennikova Encounter with a sperm whale in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Of course, not only the Americans got it. In the same 1840s, the famous battle of a sperm whale with a group of whalers took place off the coast of Japan. The whale was the first to show aggression, unexpectedly attacking a harmless schooner, causing serious damage to it. There were three whaling ships nearby - two British and one American - and their captains decided to avenge the civilians. Nothing good came of it: several sailors died, two whaleboats were destroyed, one of the brigs was injured, and the sperm whale, albeit with a harpoon in its back, went into the depths. Initially, the schooner attacked by him sank - fortunately, during the battle between the whale and the hunters, people managed to leave the ship going to the bottom.
The ships of the 20th century became stronger and more powerful than their predecessors, but this did not give them guarantees of safety in collisions with giants from the depths. News of the attacks of sperm whales on ships came from different parts of the world and in different languages. The Norwegian "Durey", the New Zealand "Matuku", the Soviet "Cyclone" and "Enthusiast", an unnamed French combat boat, the American "Atorrante" and many others - someone managed to stay afloat and escape, but for someone, it would seem , harmless swimming was the last in my life.
Despite the fact that there were a great many sad consequences of ship collisions with whales, it was the story of the Essex that gained cult status. Outstanding Hollywood professionals considered it an honor to work on the film “In the Heart of the Sea” describing those events: - Oscar-winning “A Beautiful Mind” director Ron Howard;
- Screenwriter of "Blood Diamond" (five nominations for "Oscar") Charles Leavitt;
- operator of "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Race" Anthony Dod Mantle;
- Oscar-winning editor Mike Hill ("Apollo 13", "Race") and many others.
The cast is no less impressive. Starring:
- British Academy nominee Chris Hemsworth ("Thor", "Avengers", "Race");
- Golden Globe nominee Cillian Murphy (The Dark Knight, Inception, Inferno, 28 Days Later);
- European Film Academy nominee Ben Whishaw ("Perfumer: The Story of a Murderer", "Cloud Atlas");
Emmy winner and multiple Golden Globe nominee Brendan Gleeson (Braveheart, Cold Mountain, Edge of Tomorrow).
Check how strong you are in ketology -!
The sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales. Adult males reach 20 meters in length and weigh 50 tons. Divers on its background look like small specks.
The word "sperm whale" is borrowed, apparently, from the Portuguese language. In turn, the Portuguese cachalote, presumably, comes from cachola, "big head". In the explanatory dictionary of Ushakov (1935-1940), however, the French origin of the word is indicated.
The sperm whale is difficult to confuse with other cetaceans. The huge head in old males is up to a third of the total body length (sometimes even more, up to 35% of the length); in females, it is somewhat smaller and thinner, but also takes up about a quarter of the length. The long and narrow lower jaw is full of large teeth, which are usually 20-26 pairs. It can open down vertically, 90 degrees.
When exhaling, the sperm whale gives a fountain directed obliquely forward and upward at an angle of about 45 degrees. The shape of the fountain is very characteristic and does not allow one to confuse it with the fountain of other whales, in which the fountain is vertical. The emerging sperm whale breathes very often, a fountain appears every 5-6 seconds.
The sperm whale is a giant among toothed whales, all other toothed whales are much inferior to it in size. Sperm whales grow all their lives, so the older the whale, the larger it is, as a rule; while males are almost twice as large as females. The length of males is 18-20 m, larger individuals are very rare. The weight of adult males is on average about 40 tons, but often large sperm whales weigh more, even up to 70 tons. In the past, when sperm whales were more numerous, specimens were occasionally found weighing close to 100 tons.
Big brain and good heart. The sperm whale's brain is the largest in the entire animal world (absolutely, but not relative to body size), it weighs up to 7.8 kg. The size of the heart of an average sperm whale is a meter in height and width.
He is vocal. The vocal signals of the sperm whale are generally close to those of other whales. These are the three types of sounds - groaning sounds, clicks and quick crackling sounds like the sound of a mechanical typewriter, and creaking. Stranded sperm whales roar loudly.
Some sounds made by sperm whales can reach literally fantastic volume - up to 236 decibels per micropascal per meter, which gives an absolute loudness of about 116 decibels (this is already comparable to the noise of the engines of a large airliner, which reaches 160 decibels). Thus, the voice of the sperm whale is one of, if not the loudest sound in wildlife.
He loves warmth. The sperm whale has one of the largest ranges in the entire animal kingdom. It is distributed throughout the oceans, except for the most northern and southern cold regions. At the same time, whales stay mostly away from the coast, in areas where depths exceed 200 m. Sperm whales are more common in warm waters than in cold ones. According to American experts, "the headquarters of sperm whales is in the tropics."
He is talkative. Sperm whales are herd animals. Only very old males are found alone. Sperm whales in different groups use different sound markers, which made it possible to speak about the existence of "dialects" in the "language" of sperm whales.
He's in no hurry. A feeding sperm whale swims rather slowly compared to baleen whales. Even when migrating, its speed rarely exceeds 10 km / h, and the maximum speed of the whale is 37 km / h.
He is a long-liver. Regarding the life expectancy of the sperm whale, it is known that it is, in any case, quite large - according to some sources, the maximum age of 77 years was recorded.
Excellent diver. The unique ability of the sperm whale to extremely deep dives is known. It dives deeper than any other air-breathing animal. Some sources point to the possible ability of the sperm whale to dive even up to 3 km. Tracking tagged whales showed that one sperm whale, for example, dived 74 times in 62 hours while the tag was attached to its body. Each dive of this sperm whale lasted 30-45 minutes, the whale dived to a depth of 400 to 1,200 m.
This is probably why the word "sperm whale" was quite often used to name submarines of various countries, for example, in the US Navy in the 1930s there was a type of submarine "Sperm Whale". In the Russian Navy, several submarines also carried the name "Kashalot".
The sperm whale, like all toothed whales, is a predator. The basis of its diet is made up of two groups of animals - cephalopods and fish. For a normal diet, an adult sperm whale needs to eat about a ton of cephalopods per day; a number of sources indicate that he needs to feed on average about 3% of his body weight per day. In the 1980s, it was estimated that sperm whales ate about 12 million tons of cephalopods a year in the waters of the Southern Ocean.
The sperm whale is a very amazing animal both among other inhabitants of the planet and among whales. This animal has such qualities that you will not meet with anyone else: absolute diving records; an unusual menu consisting of giant squids; a special fat pad (spermaceti) that only they have, as well as the glory of swallowing people whole without chewing. Although the last statement can be argued. Cannibalism behind sperm whales was usually not noticed.
In addition, the sperm whale is the largest representative among toothed whales. Males are much larger than females. Their length can reach 18-20 meters, while females grow no more than 13 meters. The average weight of males is 35-40 tons, but this is far from the limit.
Habitat
Sperm whales have the most extensive habitat. They are found in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The only places where they do not exist are the northernmost and southern regions.
They are found in large numbers where there is food. They even have their favorite recreation and hunting areas, where these whales form huge herds, numbering several hundred, and sometimes a thousand individuals.
Every year, sperm whales make not very distant seasonal migrations. They practically do not pass from one hemisphere to another. These giants prefer to stay where the depth is more than 200 meters, which is why they rarely approach the shores.
Habitat of sperm whales Appearance
The name "sperm whale" comes from the Portuguese cachalote, which means "big head". The Portuguese hit the mark. In fact, the head of this animal is simply huge. It occupies about a third of the length of the entire body. Looking at the sperm whale from the side, it is clearly seen that the head of the animal has a rectangular appearance and there is not even a question of any “nose” here. On the sides it is strongly compressed.
At the very bottom of the head is a mouth, the lower long jaw of which is strewn with large cone-shaped teeth. Each of them weighs about 1 kg. On the upper jaw there are recesses for these teeth. The lower jaw is very mobile, it can open down almost 90 °, which plays into the hands of the sperm whale when capturing large prey.
Rectangular head shape No less large eyes are located on the sides of the huge head, although only a small part of them is visible through the palpebral fissure. The diameter of the eyeball of the sperm whale reaches 15-17 cm. Small ear openings are located a little behind and slightly below the level of the eyes.
Despite their gigantic size, the sperm whale's fins are quite small: the dorsal fin is a small hump, the pectoral fins, with a body length of 20 meters and a weight of about 40-50 tons, grow no more than 1.8 meters in length.
small pectoral fins In addition to the specific shape of the sperm whale's head, it is easy to recognize by its fountain. It is not directed vertically, as in many whales, but forward at an angle of about 45°. Sperm whales after long deep-sea dives float to the surface and breathe very often. The fountain appears at intervals of 5-6 seconds.
The dark gray skin of sperm whales is covered with deep grooves almost all over the body, except for the head. Under it lies a thick fat layer, which can reach 50 cm. In adults and large individuals, various scars and scratches are found on the skin. The belly, like many whales, is lighter.
sperm whale fountain Features of the sperm whale
Sperm whales have a unique formation that is not found in any other animal - a spermaceti sac or a fat pad. It is located in the head of the sperm whale and occupies most of it.
The weight of spermaceti (a fat-like transparent liquid) can reach 11 tons. In the world, it is highly valued for its unique medicinal properties. But why is this adaptation for the sperm whale? According to one version, he needs a spermaceti bag for echolocation, according to another, it is something like a swim bladder and helps the whale when diving and rising from a depth. This is due to the rush of blood flow to the head, as a result of which the temperature of this bag increases and the spermaceti melts. At the same time, its density decreases, and the whale can easily float to the surface. When diving, everything happens exactly the opposite.
Lifestyle
Sperm whales unite in numerous herds. And if you manage to meet a lonely sperm whale, then it will be an old male. There are also purely bachelor herds, consisting only of males.
Sperm whales are slow animals, their swimming speed rarely exceeds 10 km/h, but while chasing prey, they can be said to “come to life” and can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h.
For most of their lives, sperm whales are in search of food, so they have to make frequent dives to the depths where their favorite food lives - cephalopods. The depth of such a dive can be from 400 to 1200 meters. It takes the sperm whale 30 to 45 minutes to do this. Therefore, before each entry to the depth, the whales spend enough time on the surface to breathe and stock up on oxygen, which is accumulated not only in the lungs, but also in the muscles.
When diving, his pulse drops to 10 beats per minute, and the blood begins to be redirected, first of all, to the brain and heart. And oxygen is supplied to the fins, skin and tail due to the fact that the muscles begin to secrete hidden oxygen reserves into the circulatory system.
Nutrition
Almost 90% of the sperm whale's diet is cephalopods, and only the remaining 10% is fish. Among the cephalopods, squids are in the first place. These toothed whales find food using echolocation.
Despite the fact that sperm whales have no competitors at depth when looking for food, one worthy enemy can still be encountered - this is a giant squid. Most often, such skirmishes end in the victory of the sperm whale, after which the squid turns from an enemy into dinner.
An adult whale can eat about 1 ton of cephalopods and fish per day. He swallows his prey whole, and tears it apart if it is too large.
Cephalopods are the favorite food of sperm whales. reproduction
During the breeding season, males form harems of 10-15 females. Pregnancy lasts from 15 to 18 months. From May to October, sperm whales give birth to one, very rarely two 4-meter cubs, whose weight can reach 1 ton each. Until 10-11 months, until teeth appear, the mother feeds the cub with milk.
Sperm whales grow quickly, given that their average life expectancy is 40-50 years. By 4-6 years, both males and females become sexually mature. The interval between births is 3 years. After 40 years, the female no longer participates in reproduction.
Female with cub sperm whale and man
The sperm whale has only 2 enemies - killer whales and humans. The first is dangerous only for small females and their cubs, while the second is dangerous for everyone without exception.
Now the number of sperm whales is not threatened with a reduction, but until the middle of the 20th century, these whales were an important object of whaling. They were ruthlessly exterminated for the sake of meat, skin, healing properties of spermaceti and ambergris - a waxy substance formed in the whale's digestive tract. It is highly valued in perfumery as an excellent fragrance fixative.
In the second half of the 1960s, sperm whales were completely taken under protection. True, in some countries, the production of sperm whales is still ongoing, but in very small quantities, and then, according to strict quotas.
Sperm whales cannot be called harmless and kind creatures. When in danger or when injured, they show great aggression and may attack small boats. At one time, wounded sperm whales sank a sufficient number of small whaling ships and killed whalers.