Majestic Sperm Whales

To day as the sea was calm we went on the Whale Watch Cruise.

The waters of the ocean just off Kaikoura are up to 2,000 metres deep, in the shape of a giant underwater canyon and its funnel effect provides an ideal environment for deep water marine life to flourish, which is the exclusive diet of the great Sperm Whale. This whale species is much older in its evolutionary chain, unlike those that who more recently evolved to eat krill and has an enormous mouth capable of devouring a 4 metre shark is one hungry gulp. Post mortems have revealed large objects such as 44 gallon drums in their stomachs. They are able to dive to incredible depths and stay submerged for over 2 hours.

During the cruise I was fortunate to learn about their superior intelligence from our on- board Marine Biologist. Our intelligence is known to arise from the more recent development of the frontal lobes, that are the executive function of our brains, co-ordinating the messages and data from other areas which allows us to make complex decisions and give us our "consciousness".

These frontal lobes are more developed in the Sperm Whale and are much larger as a ratio to body weigh than ours. In other words if we measure our IQ as an average of say 100/110 than the Great Sperm Whale according to the scientific research would be 2,000. Their level of consciousness is much more developed than ours. Apparently they spend more time in nutering and caring activities and do not exhibit any of the anxiety and fear we have in relation to death.

She has promised to send me an- email on this research which I will publishing when received.

After 2 hours of searching for whales and listening with underwater equipment for the familiar clicks, the skipper announced sadly none were sighted or heard to day. We did see a number of sea birds including the giant albatross and some dolphins mating but no whales.

We received a refund of 80% of the cost as compensation , and I understand it's unusual not to sight any. I look forward to posting more material about the intelligence of these majestic Sperm Whales soon.