Hi Newbie here.

Sorry for bringing life back into this topic a year and a half after it was locked, but i felt i had to post about it that a russian guy called Paulwhale would defend that no other animal can kill a Sperm Whale as its pure size was too much for anything to kill it.He kept going on how Sperm Whales could sink boats with its huge head and teeth and a swish from its tail can cause lots of damage also.He ruled out attacks from giant squids and great white sharks would cause mere pin pricks on a huge whale of 150 tons maybe this is true but he made the mistake that Orca's wouldn't stand a chance either! Not true....An Orca is part of the Dolphin family which makes it rather a smart animal indeed you mix that with speed and agility along with a killer instinct you get a highly skilled killing machine.We already know that Dolphins are capable of killing sharks a lot bigger than themselves with speed and also out smart a large shark. Orca's are pretty much the same as Dolphins but on a much larger scale and they also have more ferocity in attacks.Now with a Killer Whale being smart and all that its not going to be stupid enough to ram a Sperm Whale head on or hang around the Sperm Whales tail too much so its going to attack from above or below where the Sperm Whale is most vulnerable. Although Sperm Whales are fairly immune from predators particularly large Bulls, Orca's are perhaps its only one predator and they have even also thought to have preyed upon the fearsome Megalodons and as the link below shows don't f*** with Orca's.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m113...i_53378967/pg_3

I bet humans could kill sperm whales.

Yeah, real nice. Unfortunately, sperm whales aren't undiscovered animals.

Yeah this should be in natural world

Orcas have mobbed Sperm Whale cows and killed them.

I'm pretty sure they can, but i think we are talking more about other animals rather than humans who have to use weapons like Harpoons.

If inhaled, even a wallaby could kill any sperm whale...

Orcas hunt in groups. A group of orcas could easily bring down a sperm whale I think. Now a single orca vs a sperm whale is a different story.

Humans have hunted and killed sperm whales centuries ago. ;P Well heck even right into the mid of last century. Mainly for what gives the sperm whale it's name. Inside a cavity in the whale's head holds this fine fatty substence that was used for lamp oils and lubrications for verious machines. Even the space shuttles use it... (though Nasa only has a certain amount remaining since hunting sperm whales had become illegal)

A group of orcas can take down female sperm whales, but not so much the males. Not sure about the squids though. Squids are prey for sperm whales, not vice versa. If any squids managed to take down a sperm whale, we haven't seen it yet.

orca's only go after baby and female sperm whales, if its a bull then its a totally different story, if a bull comes to a pod of orca's then the orca's flee like babies

Is this documented?

I've never personally heard of an instance of a pod or orcas taking down a sperm whale, but I'm willing to bet money it has happened. I know the transient mammal eating orcas off of the Pacific coast of the United Stated have killed and eaten gray whale calves. They do this by wedging their bodies between the mother and calf, then they body slam the calf until it becomes exhausted and the group can more easily hold it beneath the surface to drown it. I'll bet the orcas would go after sperm whale calves in a similar manner. However, unlike gray whales, sperm whales have teeth and they are much faster. A lone orca would not stand a chance against a fully grown sperm whale. I would never underestimate a pod of orcas, though. Just because sperm whales are not members of the dolphin family does not mean they are less intelligent than the the members of delphinidae. Sperm whales have highly developed social orders and we believe they are capable, like dolphins, of logic and reasoning. Beaked whales are thought to be similarly capapble, especially those who frequently interact with their other members of their species. That being said, I simply doubt a pod of orca would bother with the extremely difficult task of killing a sperm whale. It does not seem worth their while. It's almost certain there will be something not too far away that would be much easier to kill and far less dangerous. As a side note, when orcas kill a large cetacean, they usually only eat the tongue and the blubber. The only way I can see a pod of orcas attacking a sperm whale is if they attacked an injured/sick/old individual in SHALLOW waters. A healthy individual in the deep pelagic ocean could easily escape simply by diving. Orcas cannot dive nearly as deep or hold their breath as long as a sperm whale.

Paulwhale is a legend of this forum

ninjashoes-
I don't know if that was directed towards me, but my post wasn't meant to discredit paulwhale, I was just giving my insight.

I just watched a show on sperm whales the other night on discovery and it said that they were the most bad ass animal around and that not even a giant squid could kill it. So ya Discovery channel owns your face.

I unfortunately missed that program because my dorm room doesn't have cable. I wish I could have seen it. I agree, sperm whales are badass, but they are not invincible. They are flesh and blood just like us. Non-human animals aside, look what WE did to them. We almost caused their extinction. I encourage all who are interested in sperm whales to watch an episode of Ocean Wilds called Realm of the Killer Whales/ Sperm Whale Oasis. The sperm whale segment demonstrated how calm and gentle they can be, as well as evidence of their striking intelligence. The movie is available on DVD on the PBS website.

ROFL!! (Okay, so I didn't actually roll....)

I just watched a documentary wherein a pod of orcas killes a humpback whale. They could probably take out a sperm whale as well.

LOL!

Just a funnier way of saying, they aren't invincible. The visual I got in my head was...amazing.

I do not believe there is any scientific evidence of orcas killing an adult sperm whale, includin the smaller females. They are documented as harrying the mothers and drowning Sperm whale calves and eating them when the mother abandones the baby's carcass.

On the other hand, Sperm whales are known to swallow fairly large sharks whole, as well as other marine mammals. It is probable there have been occassions when a very large bull SpermWhale may have eaten juvenile killer whales. Sperm whales tend to eat only those animals they can swallow whole, because they have teeth only in their bottom jaws.

It is fully documented that one large Bull Sperm Whale deliberately sunk a large whaling ship. Once learning this act, it is possible it could have sunk many other ships if threatened again, but we will never know if there were no surviviors to tell the tale. If these bulls were not so antagonistic to one another, and more like orcas, it is possible they could have taught each other how to destroy human vessels, and the history of whaling could have been altogether different.

So in a way, in the 19th century of wooden hull ships, for all the previous period of human history, this particular bull Sperm whale, was indeed the "baddest" creature in the world. I hope he sunk many, many more whaling ships.

Hey now, I said some of that stuff already. Wait, why did you quote one of my posts? I don't see a direct response to it. I can back up a lot of the stuff you are saying, though. This has nothing to do with you, but I just wanted to voice the fact that I'm getting a feeling that people aren't taking me seriously and it just because I'm new. It's sad, because I communicate more coherently than at least several members of these forums. *sigh* I hate being the new kid...

Indeed. And we have proven quite good at it too. Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. TEACH a man to fish and he'll kill every living thing in the ocean.

Don't worry Tucuxi, just ignore that stuff.

Can someone just answer me something...where does this whale get its name? It's a very strange name!



Anyway, is anyone as scared of sperm whales as me? I've actually had nightmares about them. They're so scary looking. I can't even watch them on TV.

>.>

But why sperm whale?

Because that substance looks like sperm...

The whale was named after the milky-white substance spermaceti found in its head and originally mistaken for sperm.

click

Of course they can, cause we used to hunt them, but you probably know that.

Check this out:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m113...107/ai_53378967

(I was rooting for the sperm whales)

I second the hope.

That the sperm whale would actually fight back against his attackers was often puffed up to show how heroic whalers of the time were to take on such monsters attacking ships and men. The only attacks we ever hear of are on whalers attacking them of course. Modern whales know who is threating them as well: they will allow many ships to approach, yet flee whaling vessels. Compare this to most creatures that when they get skittish of man, avoid all human contact.

I have also I have read reports of modern bull sperm whales trying to take on modern metal-hulled ships, and snap at harpoon gunners, with universally fatal results for the whales. Still, at least they go down fighting, rather than letting themselves be run down, exhausted, and placidly slaughtered.

I have read some reports and tales of sperm whales crushing whaling boats in their jaws, and even swallowing some of the crewmen whole.

Can you image getting stuck in a whales mouth?????????????


http://www.unmuseum.org/spermw.htm

It would probably go something like this: The world goes dark as the vast mouth closes. Then a great pressure as the enormous tongue forces you in to the esophagus. Then a rhythmic squeezing as the muscles of the esophagus push you through the sphincter into the first stomach. It would be a tight fit, as the sack would expand to accommodate you, along with previous prey such as giant squid and sharks that may still be alive. The chamber would be airless, caustic, hot, and increasingly tight as the muscles of the stomach go to work. It is unlikely that you would survive to be squeezed into any of the other three stomachs. Your last sensation would the the booming of the whale's enormous heart.

Ok your booming just freaked me the heck out! Shudder.