The Game of Conservation by Cioc Mark;

Author:Cioc, Mark;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 2009-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Sperm Whales

The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)—also known as the cachalot and pottwal—is the only great whale belonging to the Odontoceti suborder. It is black in color, except for a white lower jaw and a white patch on its underside. Among the great whales, it is the only polygamous species: dominant males impregnate many females, and the rest (“bachelors”) are pushed to the sidelines. Males weigh up to sixty tons and reach sixty feet in length; females are about one-third smaller. The sperm whale’s enormous square head contains the world’s largest brain, the world’s largest breathing apparatus, a row of conical teeth, and a compartment (“case”) filled with a clear amber liquid known as spermaceti. Like other Odontoceti, the sperm whale locates its prey (mostly small squid) by echolocation; it may also stun them with sonic blasts before swallowing them. U.S. whalers targeted sperm whales for well over a century (roughly from 1720 to 1860) without seriously depleting their numbers, probably because they preferred the larger males over the smaller females. Sperms were not regularly hunted again until after 1945 (and especially after 1962), as other species became depleted.16

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