Sperm whales - deep sea leviathans

Sperm whale in the Azores Islands of the North Atlantic.

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Of all the creatures of the deep ocean,the sperm whale probably enjoys the most legendary status. Immortalised in Moby Dick, they are a far cry from the vengeful creature that tormented Captain Ahab and his crew. Quite the reverse. It was the whaling ships of the 19th and 20th centuries that persecuted them. They were much prized for their valuable oil - in the Southern Hemisphere alone,400,000 were killed in the 20th century. No commercial hunting of sperm whales has been permitted by the International Whaling Commission since the global moratorium on commercial whaling came into effect in 1986.

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