Talk:Sperm whale

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 5 January 2022 and 4 April 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): HT416 (article contribs).

Cerebrum size: largest in relative terms?

i assume this means vs body size and that is almost certainly false given how small the brain itself is relative to whale body size.

Measurement standardization

Hey folks! I'm noticing the use of measurements is a little messy on this page. "Meter" and "metre" are both used, some measurements are presented as "metric (imperial)" others as "imperial (metric)". These aren't just spaced out across the whole page, but show up in close proximity like in this sentence:

Female sperm whales are physically mature at about 10.6 to 11 meters (35 to 36 ft) in length and generally do not achieve lengths greater than 12 metres (39 ft)

Might seem nitpicky but I think this page could benefit from a sweep to unify to one standard, kicking off a talk to find a consensus per guidelines. I'm proposing the use of "metre" based on the International System of Units, and "metric (imperial)" based on global prevalence of those units. Janitor Fandango (talk) 01:42, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

I agree with your proposal, and would be more than willing to do a sweep of the page to bring all the measurments in line. The Morrison Man (talk) 09:35, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

Possible Remove of this quote

I seen this quote here and it’s been here for a period of time, “However, male sperm whales have been observed to attack and intimidate killer whale pods in competitive feeding instances. An incident was filmed from a long-line trawler: a killer whale pod was systematically taking fish caught on the trawler's long lines (as the lines were being pulled into the ship) when a male sperm whale appeared to repeatedly charge the killer whale pod in an attempt to drive them away; it was speculated by the film crew that the sperm whale was attempting to access the same fish. The killer whales employed a tail outward and tail-slapping defensive position against the bull sperm whale similar to that used by female sperm whales against attacking killer whales.” but there has been no citation leading to this, not even the reference leads to it. Is there an original source for this quote or is it a hoax? ExplorerKing (talk) 19:02, 21 June 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 12 August 2025

Change the article title from **Sperm whale** to **Spermaceti whale**.

• • Reason for change**: The term "Sperm whale" originates from a misunderstanding of the whale's head oil, which was historically mistaken for sperm. The more scientifically accurate term is **Spermaceti whale**, referring to the waxy substance (spermaceti) found in the whale's head that was highly valued in the past. Renaming the article would reduce confusion and better reflect biological terminology and historical context. And it even says spermaceti whale on Bing search results

https://www.bing.com/search?q=spermaceti+whale&FORM=AWRE 24.220.97.168 (talk) 14:38, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

 Not done: to request a page move follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Requested moves. meamemg (talk) 15:45, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

Cite removal

Could you please remove the BBC reference about defensive defecation, due to the phenomenon only being seen 2-3 times? ~2026-38209-26 (talk) 22:02, 4 July 2026 (UTC)

OK. Do you have a source saying that? CambridgeBayWeather (#1 deranged), Uqaqatigijaa (talk), Huliva 03:48, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

Several. Only two of these phenomena have been recorded (two sources) ~2026-38209-26 (talk) 19:24, 5 July 2026 (UTC)