Did you know that dwarf sperm whales can spray "ink" like a squid? Whether by intelligence, predatory power or sheer bad luck, these mighty ocean mammals have more than sheer size to make them stand out. Check out this collection of 5 weird whales, including...
- The Dwarf and Pygmy Sperm Whales That Spray "Ink" Like a Squid
- Beluga Whales, the Squishy-Headed Canaries of the Sea
- The Unfortunate Southern Right Whale
- The Whale With a Massive Tooth
- The Leviathan as Deadly as a Megalodon
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| Beluga whales can be trained... (mjimages on Pixabay) |
The Dwarf and Pygmy Sperm Whales That Spray "Ink" Like a Squid
Clocking in at around 9ft long and weighing 300-600 pounds, the dwarf (and their fractionally larger close relative, pygmy) sperm whale isn't much bigger than a large human. Unsurprisingly, these poor beasts find themselves being menaced by sharks and orcas looking for a substantial (but comparatively harmless) meal.
Though they don't have the sheer bulk of their larger cousins to keep them safe, they do have a neat defensive trick - they can spray a cloud of dark liquid into the water, providing a smokescreen as they make their escape!
The "ink" is stored in a sac located inside the intestine until needed. When threatened or under attack, these whales can choose to expel up to three gallons of this red-brown liquid into the water - and use echolocation to plot a path to safety!
The other little trick these whales have is the way they resemble a shark. They have a slightly pointed snout and and underslung jaw, along with a white band on the neck that resembles gills. It's enough to make you look twice and might discourage a predator from coming any closer!
Beluga Whales, the Squishy-Headed Canaries of the Sea
Beluga whales are strange looking creatures, bone-white in colour and featuring a bulbous forehead. This feature (which scientists decided to call a "melon") is surprisingly flexible and allows the whale to make facial expressions.
In addition to the expressions a beluga can make, they are rather vocal. They emit chirps and clicks to carry information to other whales, giving them the nickname "canary of the sea."
Beluga whales may frequent river-mouths and even harbors as they search for fish, mollusks and crustaceans. - something that can make them familiar with humans. One whale that turned up in Norway was particularly willing to play with tourists, even returning a mobile phone that fell into the water!
On a slightly more sinister note, that whale may have been trained by the Russian military. He was first seen wearing a harness with Russian identifiers that would hold a go-pro camera... but why would you include your markings on something designed for espionage? It's a bit more feasible that the whale was trained as part of a a security force, intended to detect divers and drones.
The Unfortunate Southern Right Whale
Perhaps you've heard of a "right whale" in a sea shanty like The Wellerman? That's because whalers considered specific whales the "right" ones to hunt, a situation that has left the southern right whale endangered even today.
As if human over-hunting wasn't bad enough, the southern right whale can find itself the target of hungry sharks or killer whales. To add insult to injury, kelp gulls have been observed pecking at the poor beasts when they surface - something that can weaken calves to the point where they can't survive a migration.
Despite the parade of threats, these whales tend to be acrobatic show-offs. They breach, slap the water with their tail flukes or flippers and even "tail-sail" by holding their tail out of the water toc catch the wind!
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| Whaling ships used to look for the "right whale" (Lia Schmidt on Unsplash) |
The Whale With a Massive Tooth
The narwhal has to be one of the strangest mammals in the world. The males are known for the massive spike (six to nine meters long) protruding from their heads... which is actually an single oversized tooth unique in the animal kingdom.
The tooth usually comes out of the left-upper jaw of the whale, spiraling to make a distinctive "unicorn horn." On very rare occasions, narwhals have had a second extended (but not quite as large) tooth appear from the right side of the jaw. The spiraling gives the tusk fair amount of resilience, which is important considering the poor beast must navigate patches of cracked sea ice if it wants to surface and breathe. Frequent impacts of the tusk against the ice open the lip wound caused by the tooth as exits the mouth.
There's some debate over what the narwhal's tusk is for. It's been suggested that it may be a display object, intended to help impress a female... but around 15% of females grow a tusk as well. Drone footage of the creatures suggests the tusk is multipurpose, but can be used to find and club fish into insensibility. Weirdly, narwhals don't have enough teeth inside their mouths to chew food so these fish get swallowed whole!
As a strange little sidenote, in 2019 a knifeman in the UK was chased down by a man armed with a narwhal tusk from a display.
The Leviathan as Deadly as a Megalodon
An angry whale can be a fearsome prospect, but even the fictional Moby Dick would stay away from Leviathan melvillei. Fossilized remains of this ancient whale were found in the Pisco-Ica desert of Peru, where they have lain for over 12 million years.
Researchers examining the bones extrapolated a body length of around 17 meters, with a body type similar to the modern sperm whale. Unlike the modern squid eater though, Leviathan had massive interlocking foot-long teeth on both the upper and lower jaw. The skull was also blunter, allowing massive amounts of force to be applied with the front teeth.
With all these factors in play, it's thought that Leviathan hunted other whales to feast on their rich blubber. It may have competed with the megalodon for food, possibly even having a weight advantage if it came to battle between whale and shark. It's also worth mentioning that a human would fit comfortably (well, for a given value of comfort) inside the whale's mouth!
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