Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat

Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick was inspired by historical instances in which large sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus L.) sank 19th century whaling ships by ramming them with their foreheads. The immense forehead of sperm whales is possibly the largest, and one of the strangest, anatomical stru...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Olga Panagiotopoulou, Panagiotis Spyridis, Hyab Mehari Abraha, David R. Carrier, Todd C. Pataky
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2016-04-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/1895.pdf