WHITE WHALE, OR BELUGA
GREENLAND RIGHT WHALE, OR BOWHEAD
SPERM WHALE, OR CACHALOT
SPERM WHALE, OR CACHALOT (Physeter macrocephalus)
The cachalot is from 40 to 60 feet long, about equaling the Greenland bowhead whale in size. It has a huge blunt head, which comprises about one-third of the entire animal. The mouth is large and the under jaw is provided with a row of heavy teeth, consisting of ivory finer in grain than that from an elephant’s tusk.
The great whaling industry of the last two centuries was based mainly on the sperm and the bowhead whales. The largest of the bowheads is limited to the cold northern waters, but the sperm whale frequents the tropic and subtropic seas around the globe. The main hunting area for them lies in the South Pacific, but they frequently visit more temperate coasts, especially when seeking sheltered bays, where their young may be born. The young are suckled and guarded carefully until old enough to be left to their own devices. Sperm whales sometimes occur off both coasts of the United States, especially off southern California.
The feeding grounds of these whales are mainly in the deepest parts of the ocean, where they cruise about in irregular schools containing a number of individuals. Their food consists almost entirely of large octopuses and giant squids, which are swallowed in large sections.
As befits a gigantic mammal possessing huge jaws armed with rows of fighting teeth, the sperm whale is a much more pugnacious animal than the bowhead. There are many records of whale-boats being smashed by them, and several well-authenticated cases of enraged bull cachalots having charged and crushed in the sides of whaling ships, causing them speedily to founder.