Summary ⁴

The Sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is the largest species of toothed whale. Sperm whales are found throughout the world's oceans in sex segregated social groups. Females live in set social groups with other female relatives and offspring near the tropics while males migrate widely to high latitudes forming loose social groups based on age with older mature males traveling alone.

LengthFemales 36-40 ft (11-12 m) Males 50-60 ft (15-18 m)
Weight 40,000-100,000 lb (18,000-45,000 kg)

Sperm whales are one of the deepest diving animals on earth and able to dive to depths of at least 9,800 feet (3,000 m) and remain down for up to two hours. Sperm whales feed almost exclusively on deep sea squid.

Population and Conservation Status ⁵

Global Population around 300,000 animals

The Sperm Whale is classified as Vulnerable

Threats ⁵

Sperm whales were intensively hunted for the waxy oil inside their spermaceti organ. It is believed that hunting reduced the global population by more than 60% from over 1 million animals down to around 300,000 by the 1990s.

This animals are now protected from hunting, in part due to alternatives bring found for the oil that these animals were valued for. Collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear is a threat in some parts of its range. Sperm whales have little interaction with humans in most of its range so the largest threats are large scale changes to the marine environment from climate change and pollution.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Anita, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/61897811@N00/381241950
2. (c) Whales-dolphins, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Physeter_macrocephalus_jumping.jpg
3. (c) Nuytsia@Tas, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/nuytsia_pix/6028356735/
4. Adapted by Bodacious Dream - Dave Rearick from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physeter_macrocephalus
5. (c) Bodacious Dream - Dave Rearick, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
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