How plastic bags are poisoning the planet's greatest predators: 65ft long sperm whales are being killed by human pollution

By PHILIP HOARE

The sperm whale - at 65ft long, the greatest that has ever existed - spends 90 per cent of its life in the profound depths, able to dive deeper than any other animal
It has the biggest brain of any animal — a mas

You quickly run out of superlatives when talking about whales.
They are the largest, loudest and longest-lived animals on our planet. How amazing, then, that we should still know so little about them — and that our ignorance has led these beautiful creatures into clear and present danger.
As a writer, I’ve studied whales around the world — from majestic blue whales off Sri Lanka to the playful humpbacks of Cape Cod. But it is the enigmatic sperm whale which fascinates me.

A sperm whale can dive down for more than a mile, to depths which would crush a human being's internal organs at a pressure of 500lb per square inch

It has the biggest brain of any animal — a massive 18lb to our human 3lb — yet we really have no idea what it does with it.
This magnificent predator — at 65ft long, the greatest that has ever existed — spends 90 per cent of its life in the profound depths, able to dive deeper than any other animal.
For precisely that reason, it is the least studied of all the great whales.
And of all whales, it is under the greatest threat, too — from what we humans are doing to its environment. Only now are we beginning to understand these creatures. But is it too late?

By virtue of its position at the top of the marine food chain, the pollution we dump in the sea affects sperm whales more than any other creature

This week the results of the first Whale Symposium ever held in Britain were published in a book I co-edited.
It contains new scientific research revealing the true nature of this most mysterious ocean giant, but also the devastating impact we humans are having on them — not least because we pollute their habitat with plastic bags and other waste — and the terrible problems they face as a result.
The sperm whale is a natural submarine, a miracle of evolutionary engineering. It is actually able to change the physical shape of its body to accomplish its dives.

We humans are having a devastating impact on sperm whales - not least because we pollute their habitat with plastic bags and other waste - and the terrible problems they face as a result

In effect, the whales were poisoning themselves. Fatally weakened, they stranded themselves together on the shore, demonstrating the unswerving loyalty to each other for which their species is renowned.
And when their carcases were dissected, it came as no surprise to discover an unusual amount of plastic, including the dreaded plastic bags, in their stomachs.
What a tragic end for such magnificent animals. And what a salutary lesson for us humans.

Dominion: A Whale Symposium, is published by Wunderkammer Press, £16.99.

It is a staggering fact that sperm whales eat more squid and fish each year - 100 million tons, than the 70 million tons we humans catch and consume per annum

source: dailymail