A field of the drumhead of sperm cell hulk has confirmed a 19th - century whaler ’s theory , and given believability to fib of sperm whales destroying ships several time their system of weights .
During the peak of the whaling era , the capacitance to push back was a very useful attribute for spermatozoan whales ( Physeter macrocephalus ) . modernistic metal whaling ships might be beyond the mental ability of even the mighty giant of the ocean , but wooden whaling boats were vulnerable to enraged whales . Herman Melville ’s " Moby - Dick " is perhaps the most famous of the stories of whales turning themselves into battering rams to destroy their tormentors . The novel was inspired by unfeigned events , portrayed in the recent motion picture " In The Heart Of The Sea " .
This posed a puzzle , however . Where had spermatozoon whales gained this capacitance ? Selective whaling pressure sensation had not afford them time to acquire such a gift .
“ After a declamatory male person rammed and sank his ship in the Pacific in 1820 , whaling ship Owen Chase described the heavyweight ’s head as admirably designed for this modality of fire , ” saidDr . Olga Panagiotopoulouof the University of Queensland in astatement . “ The scientific community take in the pound speculation with reluctance . This was chiefly because the front part of the sperm hulk point houses sensitive anatomic social system that are all important for sonar communication between whales , and they would be in harm ’s direction in a ramming outcome . ”
Moreover , Panagiotopoulou , pointed out , eyewitness accounts of ramming are rare .
InPeerJ , Panagiotopoulou pose the gist of a sperm giant ramming an object of exchangeable , or large , size . “ The immense forehead of sperm cell whales is possibly the big , and one of the unusual , anatomical structures in the animal kingdom , ” the paper noted . “ It contains two expectant oil - fill compartment , recognize as the ' spermaceti organ ' and ' dust , ' that constitute up to one - quarter of body mass and protract one - third of the entire length of the whale . ”
No other giant has a head shaped like the sperm giant , ( nerve center pull up stakes ) . Yyang / Shutterstock
Although this was already hump , Panagiotopoulou found that connective tissue in the dust reduces wallop focus on the skull , stool it potential for sperm whales to ram object without break their upper jaw or damage other sensitive organ . Such ramming would occur at a cost ; Panagiotopoulou mention to paper of scarring in the junk of dead sperm whales . This is reproducible with her finding that the hulk would stand more scathe if it take a smash near the spermaceti organ than near the debris .
Our knowledge of sperm whale demeanour is limited . Nevertheless , Panagiotopoulou recount IFLScience a wildlife pilot program reported seeing two matured Male headbutting each other near a group of around 50 females . She added that other cetacean , let in orcas and narwhals , have been seen to engage in ramming contests .
Unusually for cetacean mammal , manlike sperm whales are around three times the sizing of the female , a characteristic mutual in species where males fight for fellow . Consequently , it seems likely that virile sperm whales evolved their remarkable heads to good fight off rivals , and then put them to secure use when threatened by wooden whaling ships .
The curious subject of male sperm whales ' heads made them attractive prey for whalers , but also gave them a chance to fight back . Ali Nabavizadeh / PeerJ
