Did you know?

Most whales and dolphins live extremely long lives. Wild bottlenose dolphins live well into their forties, while some of the larger whales live in excess of 80 years!

Because whales and dolphins are streamlined to swim in water, they do not have external organs. This makes it almost impossible to tell the sex of a whale or dolphin when watching them on the sea surface.

Sperm whales are world champion divers - they are thought to dive deeper than any other mammal in the world. Typically they dive to depths of 300-600 metres, but they can reach 2000 metres, and researchers think they may be able to go as deep as 3000 metres (nearly 2 miles) at a rate of up to 3 metres per second! It may be possible for them to spend up to 2 hours underwater without coming up for a breath

They also hold the record for the world's heaviest brain although their brains are only about 0.02% of their total body weight.

Sperm whales use echolocation to hunt their prey as it is too dark to see so far down in the ocean. This way even blind whales are able to find lots of food and don't go hungry!

The large square head of the sperm whale contains a cavity large enough for a car to fit inside! It holds a yellowish wax known as spermaceti oil, which is thought to perhaps help the whales to sink.