Old seafaring tales of ships being sunk by sperm whales have been given scientific support by research showing that the leviathans\u2019 huge heads are built, at least in part, for ramming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that sperm whales use their foreheads as battering rams was first introduced by whalers after the sinking of two whaling ships, the Essex in 1821 and the Ann Alexander in 1851,\u201d said Olga Panagiotopoulou of the University of Queensland<\/a>. \u201cAfter the Essex was sunk, Owen Chase, the ship\u2019s first mate, proposed that \u2018the whale\u2019s head is admirably designed for this mode of attack\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Until 2016, however, scientists who studied whales did not taken the idea seriously.<\/p>\n But by analysing the mechanical properties of the sperm whale<\/a>\u2019s head, Panagiotopoulou\u2019s team has shown that a huge, fluid-filled chamber called the junk sac can absorb energy from forceful impacts that would otherwise fracture the skull.<\/p>\n \u201cIt often pays to listen to people who make their living working with animals,\u201d Panagiotopoulou said of the finding.<\/p>\n Why do sperm whales have such big heads?<\/p>\n The scientists argue that because the males\u2019 heads are much bigger than females\u2019, they are designed for ramming rivals when competing for females. A report of males ramming each other in the Gulf of California in 1997 bolsters the theory.<\/p>\n But why do females also possess the distinctive, bulbous forehead if only the males wield them aggressively? Panagiotopoulou said that the forehead has multiple functions \u2013 it is also important in echolocation, communication and buoyancy control, for example.<\/p>\n \u201cThe structural components within the forehead of both sexes are potentially adapted to all of these functions,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n But there might be other reasons, too. Because males and females share almost all of their genes, features that are useful for one sex are often also found in the other.<\/p>\n In mammals, for example, only females nurse young, said Panagiotopoulou, \u201cbut male mammals have both mammary glands and nipples\u201d.<\/p>\n We named sperm whales one of the weirdest whales on the planet<\/a><\/p>\n