Scientists have discovered why sperm whales with ships fighting – BBC

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An international team of scientists decided to test how true the hypothesis of the sperm whale’s ability to penetrate the head of the court, which exceed five times their size, and that provokes their aggressive behavior. The study proves that the reason loving the feeling of sperm whales were published in the scientific PeerJ magazine.

One of the first of such behavior of sperm whales told Owen Chase, whose whaler “Essex” in November 1820 was wrecked after a collision with marine animals. Chase left the memories of how angry whales repeatedly rammed “Essex”, eventually breaking it to pieces.

incident on the ship and the miraculous escape of some members of the crew led by American writer and sailor Herman Melville to create a novel “Moby Dick or the White whale.”

In addition, the history of “Essex” served as the inspiration for the popular songs of the American Mountain Group – «Nantucket Sleighride». Also named the album in 1971, which included the song

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get to work, the researchers studied the structure of the sperm whale’s forehead again. The disproportionately large head animals are special bags that produce fat. The size of the bags a lot more in males than in females. After cooling, there is a deposit of fat in the form of spermaceti – a waxy substance produced during cooling of liquid animal fat. Spermaceti used extensively in the manufacture of medicines, ointments and suppositories. Getting spermaceti is the essence of the whaling industry.

By the way, before spermaceti mistaken for sperm whale sperm (hence the name).

The engineers have created a computer model that simulates the ramming of sperm whales. After studying different kinds of direction and force of impact sperm whale researchers concluded that connective tissue Sperm bags absorb the load from the impact and protect the skull from the break

Scientists believe that high protective ability forehead sperm whales evolved by natural selection:.

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in the clashes for the female had survival of the fittest.

The defeat of the frontal part of the outputs of the enemy out of action. Aggressive ram strikes are a common feature of the land ancestors of whales – cloven-hoofed animals. The researchers hope that their findings will interest colleagues engaged in the study of mechanisms bodaniya

Sperm whales -. This marine mammals, the largest of the toothed whales that live in packs. Sperm whales are of great interest to academics: in particular, these animals – one of the few whales, who pronounced sexual dimorphism – anatomical differences between males and females of the same species. When males reach 20 m in length and weighing 50 tonnes, the females only reach 5 m in length and 20 tons weight.