Sperm Whales in Caribbean Have Distinct Culture Sperm Whales in Caribbean Have Distinct Culture The marine mammals form clans with their own unique dialects, a new study says. View Images Each sperm whale clan has a different vocal pattern—and thus culture. Photograph by Amanda Cotton Click ... click ... click-click-click. That’s the sound of a sperm whale in the eastern Caribbean. Click-click-click-click-click. That’s a sperm whale that lives in the same place, but in a different social group. Shane Gero and his team have discovered that each sperm whale social group in the region has its own clicking pattern, or dialect. (Also see " Whales With Caribbean Accents and Other Animal Dialects .") What's more, each sperm whale that Gero observed socializes exclusively with other sperm whales that have the same accent. View Images Sperm whales have the largest brain of any creature known to have lived on Earth. Photograph courtesy the Dominica Sperm Whale Project The finding strengthens the idea that sperm whales throughout the world have different cultures, just like people. "It’s like how my Canadian passport tells you a little bit about who I am.

I like hockey and I put maple syrup on everything," says Gero, a behavioral ecologist and founder of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project . "The main way we identify these different cultures is their dialects,” he says. Listen to Caribbean sperm whales vocalizing. Keeping Tabs For a new study, Gero and colleagues analyzed 11 social sperm whale units, or clans, by recording their voices and observing their actions. Scientists already knew that sperm whales in the Pacific Ocean have vocal clans, but this is the evidence of such clans in the Atlantic Ocean, according to the study, published recently in Royal Society Open Science . Richard Connor , a dolphin and whale expert at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, believes that these behavioral and vocal differences started as random variations that eventually developed into part of a clan’s culture. (Related: " Sperm Whales' Language Reveals Hints of Culture .") Sperm Whale Diving A baby sperm whale learns to swim alone while its mother hunts deep below. “You could think of it as random error in learning,” says Connor, who wasn't involved in the study.

“But once those differences are there, that becomes a sort of membership tag.” Clan Power And communicating as a group likely helps them hunt more efficiently, the experts say. View Images Sperm whales are known to dive as deep as 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) in search of squid to eat. Photograph courtesy the Dominica Sperm Whale Project “It’s probable that these groups travel in different areas and they track habitats, which includes … prey,” said Sarah Mesnick , an expert on sperm whale social structure at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in California. (Also see " Rare Video Captures Sperm Whale in Deep Sea .") “They know those areas. They transmit that information socially through the groups.” View Images These toothed whales eat thousands of pounds of fish and squid—about one ton per day. Photograph courtesy the Dominica Sperm Whale Project The ongoing research into sperm whale culture suggests there's more at stake for the species, which still faces threats due to climate change and buildup of toxic metals, Gero adds. That's because if one sperm whale clan goes extinct, that’s it: All that tradition and ancient wisdom specific to their niche is lost. Are Whales Smarter Than We Are?

- Scientific American Blog Network Are Whales Smarter Than We Are? By Mind Matters on January 15, 2008 Share on Facebook Advertisement | Report Ad Cetacean brains, such as those of dolphins (left) and humpback whales (right), have even more cortical convolutions and surface area than human brains do. Does that mean they're smarter? Figure from " Cetaceans Have Complex Brains for Complex Cognition ," Marino et alia, PLOS Biology Of Whales and Men R. Douglas Fields "Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges." Herman Melville. Call me Ishmael for making conjectures unflattering to humankind, but could Moby Dick have been smarter than captain Ahab? Melville certainly seemed to think so. Moby clipped off one of the captain's legs and then, years later, in a brilliant move of cetacean jujitsu, drowned poor Ahab by towing him into the abyss by the harpoon rope tangled around Ahab's remaining leg. "From Hell's heart I stab at thee!" Gulp. We humans pride ourselves on our big brains.

We never seem to tire of bragging about how our supreme intelligence empowers us to lord over all other animals on the planet. Yet the biological facts don't quite square with Homo sapiens' arrogance. The fact is, people do not have the largest brains on the planet, either in absolute size or in proportion to body size. Whales, not people, have the biggest brains of any animal on earth. Just how smart are whales? Why do they have such big brains? Bigger is not always better; maybe the inflated whale brain is not very sophisticated on a cellular level. We're closer to answering such questions now, for a couple of recent papers address them squarely. What they find is helping separate fact from fiction. Size matters, but it's not everything The largest brain on earth belongs to the sperm whale, the same species as the main character in Melville's yarn. The adult sperm whale brain is 8,000 cubic centimeters. Our brain is about 1300 cubic centimeters. This is equivalent to the difference in engine displacement (the space in the cylinders) of a 1960s VW beetle compared with two and a half Formula One race cars.

Porpoises and elephants, fellow mammals known for their extraordinary mental abilities, also have bigger brains than we humans. But that's not fair. Those animals are humongous. You need to take into account brain-to-body size. When this is done, the winner is .. well, the tree shrew, followed by humans and then porpoises. Okay, tree shrews have the biggest brain-to-body ratio because they have such tiny bodies. No one thinks tree shrews are intellectual giants. All this calculation does is bring us back to where we started -- humans and whales have very big brains. It is going to take more than a meat scale to distinguish any difference in the intellectual power between these brains. A look backwards In her new paper in PLOS Biology , Dr. Lori Marino of Emory University takes a look at the paleontological evidence. Humans are widely considered the most highly evolved species.

Never mind that our DNA differs from the chimp's by only 2 percent; just look at how our head swelled, in only 3 million years, from the puny 380-cubic-centimeter brain of "Lucy", Australopithecus afarensis, to the modern 1300-cubic-centimeter cranial capacity of Homo sapiens. But consider the whale, whose closest living ancestor is the hippopotamus. The hippo's brain-to-body ratio is unimpressive for a mammal, 1.27, (similar to that of many sharks); nevertheless this modest brain is adequate for the cerebral challenges of a mud-wallowing life-style. Enormous evolutionary changes were required to transform a bog-dwelling tetrapod into a streamlined ocean-going Leviathan. "Adaptation of cetaceans to a fully aquatic lifestyle represents one of the most dramatic transformations in mammalian evolutionary history," Dr. Marino concludes. Dramatic transformations in physiology and body structure were required to realize the hippo's dream of roaming supreme in the ocean.

Jettisoning legs, transforming forelimbs into flippers, moving the nostril to the top of the head, developing sonar, underwater vision and hearing -- these evolutionary advances raise the question of whether the process of becoming fully aquatic might have been related to the very large brain of whales. By carefully examining the fossil record she found that the sudden boost in brain size in ancestors to modern whales came 10 million years after their ancient ancestors became fully aquatic. This sinks the idea that transformation to an aquatic lifestyle inflated the whale brain. It wasn't the new environment alone that spurred the big brain. A closer look at the neuroanatomy of the human and whale brain reveals that the whale cerebral cortex is much more convoluted than the human cortex. The area of the human neocortical surface is 2,275 cm2 (about the size of a dinner napkin), but the common dolphin neocortical area is 3,745 cm2 (bigger than an unfolded news paper). The sperm whale? No one has measured it, but it's vastly larger than a newspaper.

Applying the fudge factor of dividing cortical surface area by brain weight does not help: humans have a "gyrification index" of 1.75, but dolphins top out at 2.7, and the killer whale, a brilliant predator that hunts in packs, exceeds this. Marino concludes that evolution to an aquatic lifestyle cannot account for the large size of the whale brain. From the neuroanatomical evidence she concludes that the large whale brain supports a complex intelligence that is driven by the socially complex and highly communicative lifestyle of these predators. In support of this conclusion, baleen whales, which filter plankton and krill for food, do not have brains nearly as large, compared to body size, as toothed whales that hunt their food. From macro to micro Meanwhile, in another paper, " Total Neocortical Cell Number in the Mysticete Brain ," Nina Eriksen and Bente Pakkenberg of the University of Copenhagen take the investigation of whale intelligence to a microscopic level and ask a simple question: If the whale brain is so much bigger than the human brain, does this mean it has more neurons? Logically, brain function and intelligence must relate to the number of neurons.

Intelligence resides in the neocortex (the thin, convuluted "rind" of the brain) rather than in other, underlying areas devoted to controlling vital housekeeping functions for the body, so Eriksen and Pakkenberg focused their investigation there. The frontal lobes of the dolphin brain are comparatively smaller than in other mammals, but the researchers found that the neocortex of the Minke whale was surprisingly thick. The whale neocortex is thicker than that of other mammals and roughly equal to that of humans (2.63 mm). However, the layered structure of the whale neocortex is known to be simpler than that of humans and most other mammals. In particular, whales lack cortical layer IV, and thus have five neocortical layers to humankind's six. This means that the wiring of connections into and out of the neocortex is much different in whales than in other mammals. The researchers' cellular census revealed that the total number of neocortical neurons in the Minke whale was 12.8 billion. This is 13 times that of the rhesus monkey and 500 times more than rats, but only 2/3 that of the human neocortex.

What can account for the fact that whales have bigger brains -- and similarly thick neocortexes -- but fewer neurons? Eriksen and Pakkenberg found that there were 98.2 billion non-neuronal cells, called glia, in the Minke whale neocortex. This is the highest number of glial cells in neocortex seen in any mammal studied to date. The ratio of neocortical glial cells to neocortical neurons is 7.7 to 1 in Minke whales and only 1.4 to 1 in humans. This finding may indicate a tendency for larger glia/neuron ratios as brain mass increases to support the growing neurons. But when one considers other recent research revealing that glia play an important role in information processing (see " The Other Half of the Brain ," fromn Sci. Am. April 2004), one is left to wonder. Is the whale brain intellectually weaker than the human brain, or just different? They have fewer neurons but more glia, and in traditional views of the glia, the neurons count for much more.

But if glia process information too, does the different ratio in Minke whales mean they think not more weakly but just much differently? We're now wondering, essentially, what goes on in a whale's head -- and why, if it's supposedly so smart, it doesn't have great works to show for it. Many have argued that humans dominate the planet because we have manipulative hands that enable us to make tools, be they harpoons or missiles. What would be the cetacean equivalent? One wonders how different life on earth might have been if humans, big brains and all, had flippers instead of hands -- and, perhaps, a lot more glia. R. Douglas Fields, who researches glia in his day job, frequently writes on neuroscience for Scientific American and Scientific American Mind. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. Advertisement | Whale of a Time Research - Information about whales, dolphins and porpoises Whales Whales, dolphins , and porpoises all belong to the same taxonomic order called cetaceans. Cetaceans are comprised of about 80 kinds of whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

The word cetacean is derived from the Latin "cetus" (a large sea animal) and the Greek "ketos" (sea monster). Cetaceans use a magnificent way of communicating using ultrasound. Whales are the largest mammals on Earth, Larger than the largest of ancient dinosaurs, one species of whale, the great Blue whale, is the largest creature that has ever lived on Earth. and can grow up to 30m or 88 ï¿½ foot long and weigh over 200 tonnes. Being a mammal implies that they are warm-blooded, give birth like humans and feed their young with their milk. It takes about 5 to 8 years for a female to reach sexual maturity and their 16-19 ft. calves are usually born only every three years. They have existed for 18 million years and thus are also the most ancient. They are considered one of the most intelligent mammals on Earth. They developed the largest brain of any creature alive, which is the size of a car. They are the oldest mammals on Earth and can live up to 200 years.

Whales have used echolocation to locate food and scan their environment for millions of years, whereas we have only been using echolocation since it was discovered in 1917 by Paul Langevin. They are the most peaceful creatures and donï¿½t kill larger or other intelligent life forms. The worldï¿½s largest mammals roam in the worldï¿½s largest space. Over 70% of the Earth is covered in ocean and the nice thing about living in the ocean is the weightlessness effect of water. Whales dominate peacefully whilst maintaining their environment in a sustainable way. The oceans largest inhabitants feed on almost the smallest ï¿½ krill, which are only 1.5 ï¿½ 3 cm long. The Blue whaleï¿½s heart is the size of a car, their tongue the size of an elephant, some of its blood vessels are wide enough to swim through. Its tail is the width of a small aircraft's wingspan. Itï¿½s streamlining is close to perfection and enables it to cruise at 20 knots which makes them one of the fastest animals in the sea.

Each year Gray whales migrate between their summer feeding grounds in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas to their winter breeding grounds off Baja California, Mexico. This is one of the longest migrations by a mammal species. The Sperm whale is the most famous of the Physeteridae family. It is also the largest of the toothed whales and may dive deeper than any other cetacean. Whales do not have any natural predators, apart from humans. *** Calculate your carbon footprint and donate to Whale of a Time to support our projects and live in harmony with the environment *** Click on the carbon calculator image below Long live the Great Whales! Blue Whale Video, Planet Earth The Future narrated by David Attenborough Nearly 90% of cetacean species are toothed whales. Most toothed whales are small dolphins and porpoise. Toothed whales have 1 to 65 teeth depending on the species and tend to be smaller than baleen whales. Toothed whales have a single blowhole and do not have baleen plates.

There are several families of Odontoceti, or toothed whales, including Sperm whales, Pygmy Sperm whales, over 20 different species of Beaked whales, River dolphins (3 families) Belugas and Narwhales, dolphins and porpoises. Baleen whales are very large, have paired blow holes, and characteristic baleen plates used for filtering food from the ocean. Baleen whales are the largest animals on earth, yet they feed on some of the smallest animals in the ocean. There are 12 baleen whale species divided into 4 families: Northern Right whale and the Southern Right, Pygmy Right, Gray and Bowhead whale. There are the species of Rorqual whales including the Humpback whale, Fin whale, Bryde's whale, Northern and Southern Blue whale, Northern Hemisphere Minke and the Antarctic Minke. Sperm whale - Q-files Encyclopedia The anatomy of a sperm whale's head. Below the spermaceti organ lies the "junk”. This consists of compartments of spermaceti, separated by walls of cartilage.

It is the equivalent of the melon that all toothed whales have, an organ which allows the whale to emit and hear sounds under water (for echolocation). Champion diver Usually, the sperm whale dives down into the water around 400 metres (1300 feet) for around 35 minutes in search of deep-sea squid, its main food. However, it is thought to be capable, scientists believe, of descending to 3000 metres (10,000 feet) for 90 minutes or longer in its hunt for prey. The sperm whale's huge, square head contains a special organ which helps it to descend and ascend long distances. This organ, called the spermaceti, is filled with a waxy substance. When the whale dives, the cold water cools the wax, causing it to solidify and make the head heavier. On ascent, blood flow to the head warms and melts the wax, making the head lighter. Adult female sperm whales encircle their young or injured in what is called the Marguerite formation, to protect them from killer whales.

Defence Individual large sperm whales have no predators other than humans, but killer whales prey on groups of females with young, usually intent on seizing the calves. The adult females protect their calves (or another injured adult) by encircling them in what is called the Marguerite formation, because the positions they take look like the flower of that name from above. A blow from their powerful flukes can fatally wound an attacking killer whale. Years ago, whalers would take advantage of this defensive behaviour by injuring one of the family members, and so attracting the rest of the group. Sometimes, the tables are turned when male sperm whales attack killer whales. Whales - Whale facts and information - WDC Tim Stenton Which is the biggest whale? The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth; it is larger than any of the dinosaurs. The biggest recorded blue whale was a female in the Antarctic Ocean that was 30.5 m long (more than 3.5 times the length of a double-decker bus and as long as a Boeing 737 plane) with an estimated weight of 144 tonnes (almost the same as 2,000 men).

The tongue alone of a blue whale can weigh as much as an elephant and an entire football team could stand on it! The heart of a blue whale is about the size of a VW Beetle car and weighs up to 450kg. The aorta, a major blood vessel for the heart, is big enough for a human child to crawl through. More facts about blue whales . How big is the calf of a blue whale? Blue whales are pregnant for 10-12 months. The newborn calf is about 7.5 m long and weighs about 5.5 – 7.3 tonnes. A baby blue whale drinks about 225 litres (about enough to fill a bath) of its mother’s fat-laden milk (it is 40-50% fat) a day, gaining 3.7 kilograms an hour, until at age 8 months they are 15 m long and 22.5 tonnes! The mother and calf may stay together for a year or longer, until the calf is about 13 m long. Blue whales reach maturity at 10-15 years. Which whale is the deepest diver?

A Cuvier's beaked whale has been recorded to dive to a depth of 3km for over 2 hours. Sperm whales are also champion divers. Adults can stay underwater for almost two hours and dive to depths of 2,000 metres or more. They eat squid, which can live very deep in the ocean, so sperm whales have to dive down into the deepest parts of the sea to catch them. Which whale has the biggest brain? The sperm whale’s huge head, which is up to a third of its overall body length, houses the heaviest brain in the animal kingdom - up to 9kg. The head also consists of a cavity large enough to park a car inside that contains a yellowish wax called spermaceti that was much sought after by whalers. Which whale has the thickest blubber and longest baleen? The bowhead whale , which lives exclusively in the Arctic, has the thickest blubber of all whales. It can reach a whopping 70cm in thickness. These whales also have the longest baleen – the comb-like structures hanging down from their upper jaws used as a sieve to filter food from the sea-water.

These baleen plates can reach up to 5 metres in length. Which whale has the largest testicles? The southern right whale has the largest testes in the animal kingdom –each pair weighing around a tonne. Which whale has the longest tooth? The male narwhal has two teeth. The left one pierces the animal’s lip and grows to an incredible 2-3 metres. In Europe, these tusks were once sold as the horns of the mythical unicorn. Which is the most endangered whale? The North Atlantic and North Pacific right whales are among the most endangered of all whales. Only around 400-500 individuals currently exist with fewer than 100 North Pacific right whales remaining. The Western Pacific gray whale may be down to the last 150 individuals but perhaps the most endangered whale lives in the Gulf of Mexico. Here, a genetically distinct population of Bryde's whales has recently been discovered that may have fewer than 50 individuals remaining. Which whale lives the longest? In the wild whales live for a long time - generally the larger species living longest. Bowhead whales spend their lives in cold Arctic waters.

They may be the world’s oldest mammals and are the longest lived of all whales – possibly over 200 years! Which whale makes the loudest sound? Beluga whales are known as the "canaries of the sea" because they make chirping sounds like the little yellow birds. More facts about beluga whales . Sperm whales are the loudest whales, they have been recorded making sounds at 230 decibels. In comparison the call of the blue whale reaches levels up to 188 decibels. But while a sperm whale's sound lasts for only around 100 microseconds (a microsecond is 1 millionth of a second), a blue whale's call can last up to 30 seconds . Sounds over 120-130 decibels are painful to human ears. Male humpback whales sing the most complex songs and have long, varied, eerie, and beautiful songs that include recognizable sequences of squeaks, grunts, and other sounds. The songs have the largest range of frequencies used by whales, ranging from 20-9,000 hertz. Only male humpback whales have been recorded singing.

They sing these complex songs only in warm waters where they breed and give birth. In cold waters, they make rougher sounds, scrapes and groans, perhaps used for locating large masses of krill (the tiny crustaceans that they eat). Which whale makes the longest migration? The humpback whales that feed in Antarctic waters and swim north to breed off the coasts of Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica make one of the longest confirmed migration of any mammal. Gray whales also migrate huge distances and some may even rival the humpback for distance travelled. Some travel a round-trip of between 16,000–20,000 km (10,000–12,400 miles) every year between their winter calving lagoons in the warm waters of Mexico and their summer feeding grounds in the cold Arctic seas, however a female grey whale has recently been recorded as having made an even longer round-trip of 22,500km (14,000 miles) migrating between the east coast of Russia and the breeding grounds of Mexico.

To put this into perspective, the continent of Africa is approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles) from north to south. In its lifetime – that’s about 40 years – a gray whale travels a distance that is equivalent to going to the moon and back! Despite their size, the fin whale , the second largest whale, is known as the "greyhound of the sea" and can reach speeds of up to 20mph (32kph)! Whale anatomy Google+ The Sperm Whale is the world’s largest toothed whale, and the only animals on Earth that are larger than adult male Sperm Whales (more than 50 feet long [more than 16 meters] and more than 45 tons [40 tonnes]) are the largest baleen whales. Unlike the baleen whales, Sperm Whales are active predators, specializing on large squids in the deep sea but also eating large bony fishes and sharks. Sperm Whales have several specialized physical characteristics that aid in this predatory behavior. They have large conical teeth for ensnaring their preferred prey.

Like most active predators, they have large brains and in fact, the Sperm Whale has the largest brain of any animal on the planet. They also have the most powerful sonar of any animal, which they use to find their prey in the dark deep sea. Finally, they have an ability to dive to incredible depths (up to 1000 meters) and stay down for incredible lengths of time (up to two hours), both abilities increasing their likelihood of finding prey. As a result of their deep-sea behaviors, Sperm Whales typically live in waters of several thousand meters deep and are rarely seen along the coast except in areas where deep trenches or underwater canyons approach the shore. The Sperm Whale’s very large brain and specialized sonar organ (called a melon) contribute to its characteristic block-shaped head. It is the only whale that has that shaped head and is typically quite easy to identify. The body is generally uniformly grey. The Sperm Whale’s lifecycle is very similar to that of humans. Individuals reach sexual maturity in their teenage years, and females reproduce until they reach their forties and go on to live into their seventies.

Sperm Whales give birth to only one calf at a time, and at birth, baby Sperm Whales are enormous – over 13 feet (4 m) long! Because calves cannot undertake the deep, long dives that their mothers do, groups of mothers form tight bonds and share the responsibility of protecting calves at the surface. While one or more mothers dive, others stay with at the surface with the young. 150 years of commercial whaling for Sperm Whales cut their numbers at least in half, and some scientists estimate that whaling reduced the population by 75% or more. During a time when whale oil was a primary energy/lighting source in the U.S. and Europe, Sperm Whale oil was some of the highest quality and highest volume per whale of any species. Though whaling has all but ceased since 1988, Sperm Whales have not yet fully recovered from this cruel practice and are still considered vulnerable to extinction by expert scientists. They have, however, recovered more significantly than the other large whales and are the most common large whale in the ocean today.

It is difficult to obtain accurate numbers of Sperm Whales in the wild, so it is equally difficult to determine if populations are increasing or decreasing, but today’s primary threats include accidental entanglement in fishing gear (join Oceana Ambassador Kate Mara and sign our petition to keep drift gillnets out of the water and protect endangered whale species), chemical pollution, and noise pollution. Several countries around the world have offered Sperm Whales some or extensive legal protection. To help support our work protecting whales from dangerous threats, click here to donate today! Additional Resources: Top 10 Brains Top 10 Brains Apr 21, 2008 14:12 GMT · By Stefan Anitei · Share: 1. The largest brain belongs to the sperm whale: 7 kg (17.5 pounds). The blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, being twice longer and thrice heavier, has a brain weighing 5 kg (12.5 pounds). 2. Human brain has an average weight of 2.7 pounds (1.2 kg), variations between 1.1 and 1.4 kg being considered normal.

Our brain represents 2% of our weight, the largest brain in the animal world compared to the body size. 3. The brain of the men is, on average, 100 grams (0.3 pounds) heavier than that of the women. 4. The largest brain of a terrestrial animal is that of the elephant: 10.5 pounds (4.78 kg). Still, the brain of the elephant makes less than 0.1% of its body weight. 5. Amongst our relatives, the primates, apes have the largest brains. The mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) has a 0.95 pounds (430 g) brain. Still, that of the chimpanzee is larger compared to its body size: 0.77 pounds (350 g) (a chimpanzee male is 2.5-3 times lighter than a gorilla male). The smallest primate brain is detained by the mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) of Madagascar: 0.004 pounds (2 g) (this is also the smallest primate in the world). 6.

The largest brain of a carnivore mammal is that of the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus): 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg). 7. Domesticated animals have smaller brains than those of their wild forebears. At a similar body weight, the brain of the domestic cat (with an average value of 0.06 pounds or 30 grams) is 23.9 % lighter than that of the wild cat, the brain of the dog is 29 % lighter than that of the wolf, and the brain of the pig is 34 % lighter than that of the wild boar. 8. The octopus is known to be the most intelligent invertebrate. Its brain is made by the largest neurons (brain cells) found in nature. An octopus brain is formed by 500 million large neurons (while the human brain is made of roughly 100 billion smaller neurons), but the intelligence of this aquatic creature is comparable with that of the apes. 9. After humans, the nature's relatively largest brain is that of the dolphin: 2 kg.

A dolphin weighing 120 kg (280 pounds) has a 1.7 kg (4 pounds) brain; compared to its size, this is almost thrice than a chimp. 10. Amongst vertebrates, the smallest brain in relation with the body size seems to have belonged to a dinosaur: Stegosaurus was 6 m (20 ft) long and weighed 2 tons. Its brain was just the size of a walnut! To compensate this, the spine presented a second "brain" in the pelvic area. National Marine Mammal Laboratory How can I identify a sperm whale? Male sperm whales grow to about 60 feet (18.3 meters) while female sperm whales grow to approximately 43 feet (13.1 meters) long. Male and female sperm whales have huge, squarish foreheads, small inconspicuous eyes, and a long narrow lower jaw. Sperm whales have one blowhole located at the left of the forehead. Their blows are projected forward at an angle, which is very different from other whales. Their light-brown to blue-gray skin is rippled over much of the body, especially on the back and sides.

How well can a sperm whale see or hear? Sperm whales have disproportionately small eyes so it is thought that they do not see particularly well. In fact, blind sperm whales have been captured in perfect health with food in their stomachs. 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. What do sperm whales eat? Sperm whales are among the deepest marine mammal divers. Males have been known to dive 3,936 feet (1199.7 meters) while females dive to at least 3,280 feet (999.7 meters). Sperm whales can dive for over an hour. Giant squid comprise about 80% of the sperm whale diet and the remaining 20% is comprised of octopus, fish, shrimp, crab and even small bottom-living sharks. 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. How do sperm whales have their young?

Sperm whale herds appear to be organized on a "harem" system similar to elephants where a solitary bull (male) sperm whale joins a school of 10-40 adult females plus their calves, and juveniles (of both sexes) for the length of a breeding season. 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. Breeding seasons occur in the middle of summer according to hemisphere and 12-13 foot calves are born after a 14-16 month gestation period. Females nurse their calves for two years and longer suggesting that nursing is both a social and a feeding function for sperm whales. Females are able to conceive at about 28 feet (8.5 meters) long, while male sperm whales are probably not able to mate until they are 39 feet (11.9 meters) long. How long do sperm whales live? How do they die? 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. They were sought for their special spermaceti oil (which even today is used as a high grade lubricant), their blubber which makes an excellent oil, and their meat (which apparently tastes better than chicken!). The famous literary classic, Moby Dick tells the story of a 19th century whale hunt. Books and the world wide web are excellent places to learn more about marine mammals. Books Leatherwood, Stephen. Reeves, Randall R. Foster, Larry. The Sierra Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. Sierra Club, San Francisco, CA. 1983. Leatherwood, Stephen. Reeves, Randall R. Perrin, William F. Evans, William E. Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises of the Eastern North Pacific and Adjacent Arctic waters; A Guide to their Identification. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY. 1988. Wynne, Kate. Folkens, Pieter. Guide to Marine Mammals of Alaska. Alaska Sea Grant Program.

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK. 1992. World Wide Web Educators Educators Brain Myth --The Human Brain Is the Biggest Brain (Associated myth: The Bigger the Brain the Smarter You Are) While scientists can't agree on a single definition of “intelligence,” they generally concur that humans are the most intelligent living creature on Earth. Because of this belief, some people assume that human beings also have the biggest brains – they assume that the bigger the brain, the smarter the animal. But that is not exactly true. The average adult human brain weighs about 3 pounds – the same weight as the average brain of a dolphin (which is also a very intelligent animal). But there are animals with larger brains that are not considered to be as intelligent as a dolphin. For instance, a sperm whale has a brain that weighs about 17 pounds. On the other hand, some relatively “smart” animals have small brains – for example, dogs and orangutans: A beagle's brain is about 2.5 ounces, and an orangutan's brain is about 13 ounces. In general, the larger the animal, the larger the skull, and therefore, the larger the brain.

So, back to the question: Does brain size affect an animal’s intelligence? The relationship between brain size and intelligence doesn’t have to do with actual brain weight. It has to do with the RATIO of brain weight to the entire body weight. For example, human beings have a ration of about 1-to-50. Most other mammals have a ratio of 1-to-180. For birds, the ratio is 1-to-220. So the brain takes up more weight in human beings than it does in other animals. Intelligence also has to do with the different components of the brain. Humans have the largest cerebral cortex of all mammals, relative to the size of their brains. This area houses the cerebral hemispheres, which are responsible for higher functions like memory, communication and thinking. Birds, fish and reptiles, in comparison, have smaller cerebral cortexes relative to the size of their brains. So a bigger brain doesn’t necessarily mean a smarter animal – it’s all in the ratio!

Question: Which whale has the largest brain of any creature on Earth?
Answer: The Sperm Whale