There is a precious spice called ambergris, which is harvested from the sea. In ancient times, people did not know exactly what it was, and at first some people said that it was condensed from the foam of seawater. In the ancient books of our country, some people say that ambergris is the spit of the dragon.
The author of the "Compendium of Materia Medica", the Ming Dynasty medical scientist Li Shizhen believes that it is something cut out of the belly of a big fish, which starts like grease glue, yellow and white, and then when it is dry, it will form a lump and appear yellow-black. This explanation is relatively scientific. But the "big fish" is not a fish, but a large mammal, sperm whale. Sperm whales are very large, the largest male whale can be up to 19 meters long, and the female is more than ten meters long. Sperm whales have a large head, about one-third the length of the entire body, which is filled with rich oil for people to extract 10 to 15 barrels (136 liters per barrel) of pure whale oil. Sperm whales love to eat mollusks such as squid and octopus, and sometimes some fish. Because it likes to eat squid, the intestines are stimulated, and they will secrete a special thing, which is discharged from the body and floats on the surface of the sea, which is ambergris. Therefore, people have a secret to judging the authenticity of ambergris, that is, to see if there are any residual squid bones in it. Ambergris is excreted after a sperm whale is sick, and not every whale has it in its stomach, so it is very precious.
In 1981, Waldhan and five other scholars from the Marine Sciences Society in Newfoundland, Canada, conducted a comprehensive investigation of the ecological habits of sperm whales and found some unexplained mysteries. The first is the big head full of grease, what does it do to sperm whales? Scientists have speculated. Wadki of the United States explains this that sperm whales prey on squid and octopus in the deep sea for a living, and are "diving experts" in mammals. But although it has a huge lung and a large cavity that stores air, it still can't let it surface immediately after a long dive. At this time, the large clumps of fat on its head act as a buoyancy regulator, buying time for it to hunt in the deep sea. But the French scholar Bousnell disagreed. He believes that a large piece of fat in the sperm whale's head actually acts as an echo detector. It is like a lens body, refracting those complex echoes into sensitive detection sounds, enabling itself to accurately analyze, detect the direction and number of prey, and then pursue them.
However, both speculations lack sufficient evidence, and it is difficult to judge which one is closer to the truth. Also, the mysterious "kiss" of the sperm whale is also an unsolved mystery. During the 3-year expedition, Wadehan and other scholars have repeatedly found that female and male sperm whales often "kiss", and the mouths of adult sperm whales often contact young whales. But why do adult sperm whales start a vicious battle after touching each other's mouths on the surface of the sea? And the result of the battle often leaves parallel tooth marks on the lower palates of both sides? No one can give a reasonable explanation for this.
Moreover, the way sperm whales prey is also a mystery that remains unsolved. Some people think that sperm whales have good teeth, of course, they use their teeth to bite their prey, but Wadehan and other scholars have found in long-term investigations that even if the teeth are seriously worn or completely lost, sperm whales can still successfully prey on a large number of squid.
So some people proposed that the sperm whale does not rely on its teeth or its huge size to prey, but roars before preying, scares the prey into passing out, and then slowly enjoys it. This view is indeed very creative, but after investigation, cetaceans do not have vocal cords, how can they make that roar? Some say that sound is produced through frontal resonance, but no one can be sure.
The sperm whale is known as the diving champion among mammals, and it often dives into the deep sea below 1 kilometer and dives with its breath for more than 1 hour in search of food. In the deep sea of 2300 meters in Portuguese waters, a sperm whale was found entangled in a submarine cable, which indicates that the sperm whale can dive to a depth of more than 2,000 meters. Why do sperm whales dive so deep? This is also an unsolved mystery. You know, the water pressure in the deep sea is very large, and at a depth of 2,000 meters, the area of the fingernail cover has to withstand 200 kilograms of pressure. We humans diving to a depth of three or four meters will feel tight-chested and panicked, even if we put on a diving suit, the limit of diving is only four or five hundred meters. Understanding sperm whales is of great significance to the development of marine science for human beings. One day, we will be able to solve these mysteries.
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