December 10th 2024

Sperm Whale  – the largest toothed whale in the world, in the wintery Aegean. It is starting a dive that will reach a depth of about 600 meters and will last almost an hour.

Their migratory routes from the central Mediterranean reaches the marine region close to Athos Peninsula in northeastern Greece

The fact that these giants of our seas have managed to survive in the Mediterranean and the Aegean for many thousands, perhaps even millions of years, despite increasing anthropogenic threats, should give us all courage to step up efforts to protect our seas.

Something really remarkable about sperm whales, on which their survival is based, is their wise management of food sources. They feed mainly on species of squid living in deep waters, which fortunately are not considered suitable for human consumption. A male sperm whale needs about a ton of food per day. On a constant migratory move, they never exhaust a particular food source, thus enabling it to constantly recover.

It is worth considering the contrast with us humans, who despite thinking of ourselves more intelligent than the other species, we constantly exhaust each one of our food stocks, often to the point of collapse.