Nutrition

Physeter macrocephalus is a mammal and is unable to produce its own food by photosynthetic means. Instead, the sperm whale has become a very efficient hunter and is highly dependent on prey type foods like the cephalopod. Being a meat eater allows the sperm whale as well as many other carnivores to be able to digest more efficiently than herbivores. In fact, a carnivore can digest food 80-95% more efficiently than a herbivore due to a shorter and less complex gut. In order for the massive sperm whale to obtain its food it requires a lot of energy that will be lost. But, in return there is a reward of high quality, energy filled food.

In the Southern Oceans alone, it has been estimated that approximately 34 million tons of cephalopods are consumed by vertebrate predators. About 12 million of that is consumed by sperm whales alone (Evans and Hindell, 2004). For sperm whales to dive and find their prey (cephalopods) in the darkness of the ocean they use their biosonar clicks to be able locate and track them. After observing sperm whale’s bodies after deep dives, it is believed that the giant squid that the sperm whales are hunting will fight back leaving massive scars on the top of the sperm whale’s head (Evans & Hindell, 2004). Although the sperm whale may use up large quantities of energy, in return the giant squids (cephalopods) give off large amount of energy for the sperm whale to obtain.

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