How deep can a sperm whale dive? A sperm whale can dive deeper than 3,000 feet (about 1,000 metres), although sperm whales often dive down to about 2,000 feet (600 metres). Here is what is known about the whale and its dives.
A sperm whale eats mostly squid. It eats about one ton of food in a day, and it eats about 3 percent of its body weight each day. Its large teeth are in its lower jaw, and they are 3 to 8 inches long.
Sperm whales find food with sound. They make clicking sounds, and they use echolocation. In echolocation, an animal makes a sound that travels through the water, bounces off an object and comes back as an echo.
The sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales, and it is dark gray. An adult male is 49 to 59 feet (15 to 18 metres) long and can weigh up to 45 tons. An adult female is smaller, up to about 40 feet long.
A sperm whale's head is about one-third of the length of its whole body. The sperm whale also has the largest brain of any animal.
The head holds spermaceti, a waxy substance that gave the whale its name. It can hold about 4 tons of spermaceti. Scientists are still not sure what the spermaceti is for.
Adult male sperm whales usually live alone, except in the breeding season, and young males leave their family groups and live with other young males. Female sperm whales and their young travel together in groups, and the females help look after the young together. They stay in warm tropical waters all year.
A mother carries her calf for 14 to 16 months before it is born. The newborn weighs about 1 ton, and the calf nurses for two years or more. Female sperm whales become adults between the ages of 7 and 13 years.
So how can a sperm whale dive so deep and stay down so long? Sperm whales dive deep down in the ocean to find food, and a sperm whale can stay underwater for an hour or more. Its ribcage is flexible, so its lungs can collapse safely under the water pressure of a deep dive. Its muscles also hold extra myoglobin, a protein that stores oxygen. Sperm whales are usually found in water at least 1,000 metres deep.
Words to know
- myoglobin: oxygen protein
- echolocation: finding by sound
- pressure: squeezing force
- spermaceti: waxy substance
- calf: baby whale
- tropical: very warm
