Sea monsters are a common feature of literature - and Moby-Dick is a classic example. Though fictional, the titular leviathan was based on both a real creature and real events. Let's take a look at...
The Sinking of the EssexThe fictional tale of Moby-Dick was penned by Herman Melville in 1851, detailing a conflict between the driven captain Ahab and the whale he was obsessed with. At the climax of the book, Moby-Dick sinks the whaling vessel and Ahab is last seen trying to get one last strike at the whale as it drags him away - only a single crewman survives as the ship breaks and sinks beneath the waves.
Like many modern Hollywood productions, the book was actually inspired by real life events. In 1820, the three-masted whaling ship Essex was rammed by an 85ft sperm whale (most only reach 65ft.) It's unknown what provoked the attack, but one theory is that the hammers used in ship maintenance sounded like the clicks used by sperm whales to communicate - and that the whale thought the boat was another male attempting to steal territory.
After an initial ram (that seemingly stunned the whale as well) the cetacean smashed the bow of the ship and disappeared. The ship was doomed.
The crew took the smaller whaling launches and made for land, attempting to reach Chile or Peru but eventually heading for Easter Island. The survivors resorted to cannibalism (even drawing lots to see who would be eaten) before being rescued by other boats.
Whalers also sought ambergris, a substance produced in the digestive tract of sperm whales to protect them from squid beaks - and they needed it, as a sperm whale could suck up a ton of squid in a single day. Ambergris was used in perfumes, but the rarity of the substance made it fall out of favor.
Sperm whales also have very big brains. In fact, they have the biggest heads and brains of any creature alive on Earth today - their brains weigh five times that of our own. This is dwarfed by their heart though, which weighs around as much as bodies of two fully grown adult human males.
Deadly Voices and Noxious ExpulsionsSperm whales are big and strong, but that's not all they have going for them. They are the loudest animal in the world, with their clicks allowing them to communicate with other whales hundreds of miles away. Human speech occurs at around 60 to 65dB, a rock concert blares at around 115dB and the roar of a jet engine can hit 140dB. Sustained noise above 85dB can damage your hearing, and at 180dB the cells in your ears will die. Sperm whales can hit 235dB - sustained exposure could actually vibrate a human body apart.
For all their might, sperm whales can find themselves prey of an animal other than humans - orcas. Killer whales are more than happy to team up and take down large prey, and sperm whales are thought to be largely helpless in the face of these agile killers.
They do have a secret weapon though - when pursued by an orca, the sperm whale can void its bowels in a burst of noxious, explosive diarrhea. Unsurprisingly, swimming face first into this cloud of brown murk is enough to deeply discourage an orca. Researchers have even captured it happening, such as when a pod of sperm whales forming a defensive ring and blasting charging orcas with clouds of feces.
Discovered in Peru, the bones of Livyatan melvillei paint a deadly picture. Though thought to be no larger than the modern sperm whale, Livyatan possessed teeth on both the upper and lower jaws, some of which grew to a foot in length and four inches wide. A shorter snout gave the bite a stronger grip, meaning that prey would take a massive amount of tearing damage even if they got free. Arguably the bite would be comparable to that of a killer whale... if that whale was three times the normal size.
Livyatan is thought to have hunted baleen whales, and its mouth reflects this. At around 6ft long and 4ft wide, it could engulf an intact fully grown human... or the head of a Tyrannosaurus rex!
- The sinking of the Essex
- How the sperm whale was named (and why they were hunted)
- Deadly voices and noxious expulsions
- The prehistoric terror (meet the deadly ancestor of the modern sperm whale)
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| Whales are an intimidating but harmless sea creature... usually... (nesslinger-it) |
The Sinking of the EssexThe fictional tale of Moby-Dick was penned by Herman Melville in 1851, detailing a conflict between the driven captain Ahab and the whale he was obsessed with. At the climax of the book, Moby-Dick sinks the whaling vessel and Ahab is last seen trying to get one last strike at the whale as it drags him away - only a single crewman survives as the ship breaks and sinks beneath the waves.
Like many modern Hollywood productions, the book was actually inspired by real life events. In 1820, the three-masted whaling ship Essex was rammed by an 85ft sperm whale (most only reach 65ft.) It's unknown what provoked the attack, but one theory is that the hammers used in ship maintenance sounded like the clicks used by sperm whales to communicate - and that the whale thought the boat was another male attempting to steal territory.
After an initial ram (that seemingly stunned the whale as well) the cetacean smashed the bow of the ship and disappeared. The ship was doomed.
The crew took the smaller whaling launches and made for land, attempting to reach Chile or Peru but eventually heading for Easter Island. The survivors resorted to cannibalism (even drawing lots to see who would be eaten) before being rescued by other boats.
How the Sperm Whale Was Named
The sperm whale takes its name from the waxy liquid substance called spermaceti contained in their blocky heads. It was initially assumed that this was the sperm of the whale, but current thinking is that it affects either buoyancy or to help focus sound for echolocation. Either way, whalers extracted it for use in everything from cosmetics to candles.Whalers also sought ambergris, a substance produced in the digestive tract of sperm whales to protect them from squid beaks - and they needed it, as a sperm whale could suck up a ton of squid in a single day. Ambergris was used in perfumes, but the rarity of the substance made it fall out of favor.
Sperm whales also have very big brains. In fact, they have the biggest heads and brains of any creature alive on Earth today - their brains weigh five times that of our own. This is dwarfed by their heart though, which weighs around as much as bodies of two fully grown adult human males.
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| Ships like this carried the boats used to hunt whales... (Lens_and_Light) |
Deadly Voices and Noxious ExpulsionsSperm whales are big and strong, but that's not all they have going for them. They are the loudest animal in the world, with their clicks allowing them to communicate with other whales hundreds of miles away. Human speech occurs at around 60 to 65dB, a rock concert blares at around 115dB and the roar of a jet engine can hit 140dB. Sustained noise above 85dB can damage your hearing, and at 180dB the cells in your ears will die. Sperm whales can hit 235dB - sustained exposure could actually vibrate a human body apart.
For all their might, sperm whales can find themselves prey of an animal other than humans - orcas. Killer whales are more than happy to team up and take down large prey, and sperm whales are thought to be largely helpless in the face of these agile killers.
They do have a secret weapon though - when pursued by an orca, the sperm whale can void its bowels in a burst of noxious, explosive diarrhea. Unsurprisingly, swimming face first into this cloud of brown murk is enough to deeply discourage an orca. Researchers have even captured it happening, such as when a pod of sperm whales forming a defensive ring and blasting charging orcas with clouds of feces.
The Prehistoric Terror
Though a massive toothed (albeit only on the lower jaw) whale with a potentially deadly voice is pretty impressive, the modern sperm whale is a pale reflection of its ancestors.Discovered in Peru, the bones of Livyatan melvillei paint a deadly picture. Though thought to be no larger than the modern sperm whale, Livyatan possessed teeth on both the upper and lower jaws, some of which grew to a foot in length and four inches wide. A shorter snout gave the bite a stronger grip, meaning that prey would take a massive amount of tearing damage even if they got free. Arguably the bite would be comparable to that of a killer whale... if that whale was three times the normal size.
Livyatan is thought to have hunted baleen whales, and its mouth reflects this. At around 6ft long and 4ft wide, it could engulf an intact fully grown human... or the head of a Tyrannosaurus rex!
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