sperm whale

Also known as cachalot, Physeter macrocephalus, spermaceti whale

largest species of toothed whale

AI overview

The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale in the world, living in the deep oceans where it hunts for food. These massive marine mammals are significant parts of ocean ecosystems and have long captured human interest through scientific study and cultural references like the novel Moby Dick.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Species

chocolate whale

Species

PhylumChordata
ClassMammalia
OrderCetartiodactyla
FamilyPhyseteridae

Habitatmarine

Conservationvulnerable

Observations3,804

Chile Central

via

Research

1,708 papers

Sperm whale clans and human societies.ReviewRoyal Society open science · 2024Whitehead HDOI: 10.1098/rsos.231353
Plastination of a sperm whale.Journal of anatomy · 2022Jiang WB, Han J, Ma XW et al.DOI: 10.1111/joa.13581
Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations.Nature communications · 2024Sharma P, Gero S, Payne R et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47221-8
Integrating cultural dimensions in sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) conservation: threats, challenges and solutions.ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Eguiguren A, Avila I, Mesnick S et al.DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2024.0142
Sperm and northern bottlenose whale interactions with deep-water trawlers in the western North Atlantic.PloS one · 2023Oyarbide U, Feyrer LJ, Gordon JDOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289626
Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat.PloS one · 2024Posdaljian N, Solsona-Berga A, Hildebrand JA et al.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285068
Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Hersh TA, Gero S, Rendell L et al.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2201692119
Sperm whale acoustic abundance and dive behaviour in the western North Atlantic.Scientific reports · 2022Westell A, Sakai T, Valtierra R et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-20868-3

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Encyclopedic overview

The sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale superfamily Physeteroidea, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia.

The sperm whale is a pelagic mammal with a worldwide range, and will migrate seasonally for feeding and breeding. Females and young males live together in groups, while mature males (bulls) live solitary lives outside of the mating season. The females cooperate to protect and nurse their young. Females give birth every four to twenty years and care for the calves for more than a decade. A mature, healthy sperm whale has no natural predators, although calves and weakened adults are sometimes killed by pods of orcas.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “sperm whale” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

sperm whale

Species

Research

Encyclopedic overview

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What links here1,147 pages

What links here1,147 pages