Whales eating humans

From: Phil Clapham (pclapham@whsun1.wh.whoi.edu)
Date: Sun Mar 16 2003 - 07:08:19 EST

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    Hi:

    Well, the only whale that COULD swallow a human being in a sperm whale,
    which is the only whale with a gullet wide enough to do the job. All the
    baleen whales (hu,pback, fin, blue etc) have huge mouths but very small
    throats - just a few inches wide (they eat small things, so they dont need
    a larger throat).
    Whether a whale ever has done this is not known. There were occasional
    stories from whaling ships in olden times of men being swallowed by sperm
    whales, but I dont know if any of these were really true.
    Phil Clapham 

    -- 
Phillip J. Clapham, Ph.D.
Large Whale Biology Program
Northeast Fisheries Science Center
166 Water Street
Woods Hole, MA 02543

    Tel (508) 495-2316
Fax (508) 495-2066

    > has a whale ever or could a whale swallow a human being
>
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