The Sperm Whale

Meet the world's largest carnivorous creature - the sperm whale! The sperm whale is so tough it can even take down one of the other largest ocean creatures, the giant squid. These two giants have great battles that rarely anyone has ever seen. Only some scientists have been lucky enough to see it. 

Sperm whales have typical names - males are called bulls and females are called cows. Females stay with their young while the bull goes hunting. The bull usually brings back larger food, such as giant squid and colossal squid. Young bulls often form groups but become more solitary as adults. Sperm whales use echolocation to communicate and are very loud! The sound from a bull sperm whale is loud and powerful enough to knock down a small house! Sperm whales can measure up to 65 1/2 feet long and live for up to 70 years! Sperm whales can be found in all the oceans from the poles to the equator. 

The sperm whale can stay underwater for two hours before running out of breath. It lifts its tail high above the water before plunging down after prey. This helps it get into position. Sperm whales are very deep divers, going about 10,000 feet under water! That is one of the deepest-diving animals! They travel so deep that they can sometimes go to the Mariana Trench, the deepest trench on Earth. When whales such as sperm whales go under water, their heartrate slows and blood flow to the skin stops so that it can flow to vital organs for longer. Scientists think that their wrinkled skin helps them dive deeper. 

Other whales, such as blue whales, humpback whales, bowhead whales, fin whales and gray whales are baleen whales, which means they eat plankton that filter through their brush-like teeth called baleen. But sperm whales belong to the family of toothed whales, which also includes all dolphins and porpoises, beluga whales, pygmy sperm whales and narwhales. Toothed whales eat fish and other animals. It is very rare to see them eat plankton. Sperm whales have huge heads to hold their 50 enormous teeth!

Sperm whales used to be in danger from hunting for their oil. But this is not happening as much today because of protection of these whales!

Cool Fact: Sperm whales have the largest brains of any creature on Earth - more than five times heavier than a human's!