Milligan,+S

SPERM WHALES



Will killing whales save the world's fisheries? []
 * The whale's populations need to be culled to reduce their threat to fast-disappearing fish stock. Whales after all, do eat a lot of seafood, so it would make sense to controlling whale populations would be smart, "Ecosystem Management." But if you remove whales, it has a negligible impact on the biomass that is commercially available for fishing.

What does culled mean? []
 * Culled means to collect; gather; pluck.

What does biomass mean? []
 * Biomass means the amount of living matter in a given habitat, expressed either as the weight of organisms per unit area or as the volume of organisms per unit volume of habitat.

Do whales hunt down fish? []
 * W hale use echolocation to locate and hunt down prey. Once a fish or other prey has been located, they send out an even more rapid series of“clicks” as they focus in and close on their next meal. It is only when a whale’s prey is within a few feet that the whale may rely on eyesight to actually catch it

What does echolocation mean? []
 * The sonarlike system used by dolphins, bats, and other animals to detect and locate objects by emitting usually high-pitched sounds that reflect off the object and return to the animal's ears or other sensory receptors.

What does clicks mean? (series of clicks used by whales) []
 * A brief, sharp sound



How many times does a sperm whale eat a day? []
 * An adult Sperm Whale can eat about a ton of food each day. Sperm whales eat around 3% of their body weight per day. They feed on several species, the Giant Squid, the Colossal Squid, Octopus, and diverse fish like Demersal Rays, but the main part of their diet consists of medium-sized Squid.

How much can a calf whale eat a day? []
 * A baby sperm whale drinks 130 gallons of milk a day.

How far does a whale go down under water to get its food? []
 * Sperm Whales usually dive between 300 to 800 metres (980 to 2,600 ft), and sometimes 1–2 kilometres (3,300–6,600 ft) to search for food. Dives can last more than an hour.