Yesterday, we posted about the sinking of the British sailing yacht Bonhomme William last week, following an attack by orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar. Fortunately, the crew were rescued without injury. Two days later, a sperm whale encountered a … Continue reading
Tag Archives: sperm whale
Recently, researchers have used machine learning to decode a “sperm whale phonetic alphabet,” revealing sophisticated structures in sperm whale communication akin to human phonetics and communication systems in other animal species. For centuries, sailors have heard the sounds made by … Continue reading
A heartwarming story for a Monday. Here is a short video of a sperm whale in the Indian Ocean that approached a group of divers, seemingly asking for help. The whale swam directly up to them, mouth agape and dragging … Continue reading
A sperm whale, estimated to be a female between three and five-years-old, died after washing up on Rockaway Beach in New York City on Tuesday. PIX11 reports that the Parks Department was told about the approximately 30-foot sperm whale near … Continue reading
We recently posted about Michael Packard, a Cape Cod diver, who found himself scooped up inside the mouth of a humpback whale. Most of the media reports used the term “swallowed” by the whale. If the word “swallow” is defined … Continue reading
Last December we posted — so far, of the original 29 competitors in the Vendee Globe singlehanded around the world race, 5 have been forced to retire after being damaged by collisions with UFOs, unidentified floating objects. One of the … Continue reading
You never know what you will find in a landfill. Paleontologist Melissa Macias was looking for fossils in the Bowerman Landfill in Irvine, California, when she spotted teeth and bones as a construction crew moved soil to create a new waste disposal … Continue reading
You might call it the greenhouse effect, though it is not directly related to climate change. A dead sperm whale which washed ashore last year in Andalusia, in southern Spain, was found to have died from ingesting plastic sheets used in the construction of greenhouses in that region. The whale … Continue reading
Tomorrow, January 27th, at 8 PM ET & PT, the Discovery Channel is airing Monster Squid: The Giant is Real featuring the first video ever recorded of a live giant squid in its natural habitat. (See our recent post Giant Squid Filmed for … Continue reading
People are often surprised to hear that Herman Melville’s masterpiece, Moby Dick, was inspired, at least in part, by the sinking of the whale ship Essex by a sperm whale. By all accounts the sinking of the Essex haunted Melville and unquestionably supplied him with … Continue reading