whale tale

My delinquency in updating this blog could be blamed on many things. None of them are excessively interesting so I’ll skip all the excuses and dive right into what’s been going on out here since my last communique.

A week ago, a dead sperm whale washed up on our beach. With dozens of miles of wild coastline available, somehow, this whale serendipitously landed right at the end of the footpath leading from the parking lot at Mattole Beach. 10-15 years old, this 30 plus foot whale sat bloated and awesome for us all to study. I learned a lot about Sperm Whales this week including that they have the largest noses of any creature on earth but that they have very limited, if any, sense of smell. They are the largest toothed mammal on earth. They are the deepest diving of all whales, traveling one to two miles down in search of giant squid, their favorite meal. Giant squid, being – of course – giant, sometimes win. This whale had circular suction marks on his glossy back that were scars from epic battles with squid. The males travel solo to northern waters to eat and grow. When finished, they’ll significantly outweigh and outlength the females in what is one of the greatest examples of sexual dimorphism of any creature on earth.

The Sperm Whale’ s head takes up a 1/3 of its body. Most of the head contains the spermacetti organ – a highly evolved sonar structure that emits incredibly loud sounds likely used to find and stun prey. Sperm whales are rarely found on land. This was the second sperm whale to wash up in this area in a month – a truly rare preponderance. The first one died after eating 50 pounds of plastic fish netting. The one on our beach had an empty stomach and no obvious cause of death was identified.

It was hard to leave the whale every time I went to look at it. Despite a growing odor and relentless ooze from the carcass, it was irresistibly mesmerizing and unbelievable to get a rare, up close glimpse at the massive otherworldly body of a creature that inhabits one of the more mysterious places on earth, the dark and mythical world far beneath the sea. To imagine this 13 ton beast duking it out with a giant squid was mind boggling.

Check out a short snippet of video I took whaleside. I also wrote a story about the whale for the North Coast Journal.