Instead of sight, sperm whales are thought to use echolocation to seek their prey and navigate the topography of their environment. Sperm whale hearing abilities are not well known. Sperm whales are among the deepest marine mammal divers. Sperm whales can dive for over an hour. Sometimes getting a meal isn't easy for sperm whales as evidenced by disk-shaped scars and wounds likely made by giant squid resisting capture.
Males sometimes fight to gain control of harems by biting and butting of other males.
Females will sometimes assist this process by driving away older males. Females nurse their calves for two years and longer suggesting that nursing is both a social and a feeding function for sperm whales. Sperm whales may live to be 50-70 years of age. Sperm whales die of natural causes, have been known to mass strand , and were the focus of a commercial hunt in the 18th and 19th centuries. The famous literary classic, Moby Dick tells the story of a 19th century whale hunt.