What does the sperm whale eat?
The blue balleen whale, biggest animal alive, is a gentle giant who feeds on floating plankton. His cousin, the sperm whale, is somewhat smaller. But this fellow is a mighty warrior of the deep oceans. He hunts and he fights. He works hard for a living and the food he devours sometimes costs him his life.
The whales, the dolphins and the porpoises are classified in the order Cetacea, a scientific name coined from the Greek word for whale, All these animals are warm blooded, air breathing mammals who make their livings in the ocean. The cetaceans are highly intelligent animals, much smarter than the fishes and most of the other sea dwellers.
The mighty sperm whale is known as the cachalot and he is classed as one of the toothed whales. He may be a giant of 40 tons, perhaps 60 feet long, one third of his huge body is head. His powerful ja,.•s can snap a row boat to fragments. His teeth are in the lower jaw, usually about 24 of them along each side. Once in a great while, a cachalot has a few teeth in his upper jaw,
The toothy giant is a meat eater, though as a rule he does riot prey on the little fishes that scud along through the sunny surface waters of the sea, His favorite food dwells down in the deep, dark ocean abyss, His natural prey is an animal who is often as powerful as himself and almost as smart. When the sperm whale dines, it is usually after a tremendous battle .. and a fair fight.
The favorite food of the sperm whale is the giant squid who sends most of his time on the dark floor of the deep ocean. This monster of the deep may hav 9 a body 19 feet long, plus twining tentacles 35 feet long.
When attacked, he puts up a tremendous fight for his life and even the mighty sperm whale does not always win.
The sperm whale can plunge to almost a mile below the surface and stay under water an hour before coming up to breathe. The furious battle between the whale and giant squid is fought down here under tremendous pressure where the sea is darker than darkest midnight. Even when the whale wins, he may die later from his wounds. The sperm whale also eats cuttlefish and octopus who haunt the deep oceans. Sometimes he attacks big game nearer the surface. He is one of the few v.;.3 ocean dwellers who dares to attach the shark and when this happens, the bloodthirsty shark is no match for the mighty cachalot.
Apart from man, the great sperm whale has few enemies, Bu's once in a while, the great meat eater perishes from indigestion. He devours the squid, cuttlefish and octopus in great chunks, including their tough beaks. His intestines form a waxy substance called ambergris around these hard lumps .. but sometimes this wad of indigestible material costs him his life.