Dangerous Sperm Whales!

[kelemvor]

I saw an article on BBC today. The link to it in their advertisement was "the divers who risk their lives to swim with whales. I kind of cocked an eyebrow. Other than being rather large, I've never really heard that whales were particularly dangerous. Not until you torture them for a few years, anyway.

So, are sperm whales particularly dangerous or is it just sensationalism to draw traffic? I must confess I know very little about whales.

I'm floating in the Indian Ocean, six miles off the north-east coast of Sri Lanka. A sperm whale and her calf are facing me, 150ft (45m) away. I can see them swimming towards me, hissing, blowing steam and clicking loudly like a pneumatic drill.

"Don't swim, don't move. They're watching us," whispers my guide Hanli Prinsloo.

BBC News - The freedivers who swim with whales

 

[PatW]

I understand that people dive with sperm whales at Dominica pretty regularly. I think the hazard angle was there to make for a dramatic story. It is true that sperm whales like most whales are capable of violence. Sticking a harpoon into a large animal can produce a dangerous situation which is what 19th century whalers did.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

There was a documentary that showed the fins and tail of a whale as being dangerous to the divers - if you are too close they can hit you and stun/knock you unconscious - being underwater that could be considered dangerous but the whale was not inflicting intentional harm on the divers. The danger it appeared to me was the lack of anticipating such an event and then getting out of the way before the harm was inflicted upon you. So is it dangerous - sure - but only because they were positioning themselves for potential harm / danger.
I stay off railroad tracks for the same reason - the trains are really big and can inflict harm...