Can a whale swallow a human? Here’s why you need not worry

Sub : Env

Sec: Species in news

Context:

Recently, a 23-year-old Venezuelan kayaker Adrian Simancas was briefly swallowed by a humpback whale while kayaking through the Strait of Magellan off Chile’s Patagonian coast.
His father, who was also kayaking, filmed the incident. The whale surfaced, engulfing Simancas and his yellow kayak for a few seconds before releasing him unharmed.

Reason behind the Encounter:

The reason why a humpback whale briefly engulfed Simancas likely relates to the whale’s feeding behaviour. According to researchers, humpbacks typically feed by charging to the surface with their mouths open to capture concentrated prey such as small fish or krill.
In this scenario, the whale might not have been aware of Simancas and his kayak, especially given the cloudy conditions and the concentration of prey in the area.
Humpback whales rely heavily on hearing to detect their surroundings. Since kayaks are motorless, they produce very little sound, making it possible that the whale did not recognize the kayak’s presence.

Feeding Habits of Whales:

Whales can be broadly categorized into two families: baleen whales and toothed whales.

Baleen Whales
- Examples: Blue whales, humpback whales, grey whales.
- Feeding Mechanism: These whales possess baleen plates instead of teeth. Baleen is a comb-like structure made of keratin (the same material as human hair and nails) used for filter feeding. They consume small organisms such as krill, plankton, and small fish.
- Baleen whales feed on smaller prey in large volumes.
Toothed Whales
- Examples: Sperm whales, killer whales, dolphins.
- Feeding Mechanism: These whales have teeth and actively hunt larger prey, such as fish, squid, and occasionally seals. However, toothed whales do not use their teeth to chew their food. They typically grab prey with their teeth and swallow it whole.
- Toothed whales are more aggressive predators compared to baleen whales.

Why a Humpback Whale cannot swallow a human:

Despite the size of a whale’s mouth, neither baleen nor toothed whales are capable of swallowing humans. This is due to the size of their throat, which is relatively small compared to their mouth.
The throat of a humpback whale is roughly the size of a human fist, making it physically impossible for such a whale to swallow a person.
Toothed whales have slightly larger oesophagi than baleen whales, but they still cannot swallow a human whole.

Exception: The Sperm Whale

The sperm whale is an exception to this rule. It has a larger throat capable of swallowing larger objects, including a human.
However, it is extremely rare for a sperm whale to actually swallow a person. Such an event is considered a “billion to one” chance due to the rarity of encounters.