Post #14974

Revenge for fishing: How and why do whales sometimes attack ships? Many people know about the existence of the novel "Moby Dick", in which the captain of a ship, driven by the desire to catch a huge albino sperm whale, leads his crew and ship to death. And in this work one can easily read the motive of how obsession destroys the life of the person himself and those who happen to be nearby. But there is also a much more prosaic message: if you go after the sperm whale, it will destroy your ship. In 1820, 30 years before the release of Moby Dick, chilling news spread throughout the world: the whaling ship Essex was destroyed by a sperm whale. The huge beast rammed a ship 27 meters long, broke through the hull and went into the depths, avoiding the attack of harpoons. The ship quickly sank, and the surviving part of the crew found themselves on boats 2,000 kilometers from the nearest known land. Of the entire crew, only 8 people reached civilization. It was this story that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick. But this case was not the only one. In 1840, a sperm whale attacked the Brig Desmond, resulting in the death of two sailors. A year later, an angry and wounded whale smashed the John Dye to pieces and was prowling around the wreckage, looking for people among them. And each time the attack scenario was the same - acceleration and a powerful head blow, breaking through the hull of a wooden ship, as easily as if it were made of paper. For a long time, scientists believed that this behavior of whales was an act of desperation, an attempt to escape from whalers in a suicidal attack. But in 2016, an international team of researchers discovered something interesting: it turns out that the huge fat lens on the whale's forehead not only enhances its voice and echolocation abilities, but also acts as a shock absorber for the rambunctious head that destroys ships. These few cubic meters of fat can absorb up to 45% of the impact energy, and the rest is not enough to give the whale even a slight concussion. Therefore, huge mammals easily rammed ships without receiving any injuries. But the destruction of infuriating human shells is just a pleasant side effect; in fact, they need the ability to ram huge targets for... reproduction! Cat whales are harem animals, in which one successful male gets 10-15 females at once. Of course, the competition for this place is fierce. It is so cruel that sperm whales are forced to literally fight for the right to reproduce, and in such a case they cannot do without a battering ram on their heads. Moreover, we only recently learned about the battles of majestic animals. In 2022, scientists purely by chance managed to film a fight while observing one of the sperm whales. Apparently, they usually fight in the depths, but this time was an exception. Fortunately, the terrible times are long behind us. Now ships have become larger, and it is much more difficult to break through the metal plating, so