Q 01/05

Which organ of the sperm whale is the largest of its kind in any animal, living or extinct?

A) Heart

B) Brain

C) Liver

D) Tongue

Answer · why

B) Brain

The brain of a sperm whale weighs about 7 kg (15 lb), more than five times as much as a human's. A bigger one does not automatically mean a smarter an...

Q 02/05

In which surprising position do pods of sperm whales nap, drifting just below the surface?

A) Vertically

B) On their sides

C) Curled nose to tail

D) Flat on the seabed

Answer · why

A) Vertically

Vertically, with heads near the surface, is how sperm whales doze. A 2008 study found some of them are in deep sleep for only about 7 percent of the t...

Q 03/05

Which waxy lump from a sperm whale's gut, sometimes found on beaches, is prized by perfume makers?

A) Baleen

B) Blubber

C) Ambergris

D) Spermaceti

Answer · why

C) Ambergris

Ambergris smells foul when fresh, yet perfume makers value it because it makes a scent last much longer. Only about one sperm whale in a hundred is th...

Q 04/05

Sperm whales make their long dives into the dark deep sea mainly to hunt which prey?

A) Krill

B) Seals

C) Jellyfish

D) Squid

Answer · why

D) Squid

Squid make up most of a sperm whale's meals, and a whale eats about 3% of its body weight every day. As many as 18,000 undigested beaks have been foun...

Q 05/05

In the novel Moby-Dick, which captain obsessively hunts the white sperm whale that bit off his leg?

A) Ahab

B) Nemo

C) Bligh

D) Queeg

Answer · why

A) Ahab

Ahab commands the whaleship Pequod and nails a gold coin to the mast as a prize for the first sailor to sight the white whale. The chase ends with the...