Subscribe to Outside Magazine
advertisement
Survival Guru

Today's Question
How do you make primitive snowshoes? answer

What should you do if you get lost driving in a snow storm? answer

Eco Adventurer

Today's Question
What is the greenest ski and snowboard on the market? answer

Can I really damage a coral reef with sunscreen while snorkeling? answer

Videos Ask Dave
  • What kind of dog will make me look manlier? answer
  • Is there a sport that safely combines my twin passions for guns and kayaks? answer
  • How come most of the world's cultures enjoy eating goat, but Americans don't? answer

Online Favorites

Special Issues

Photo Galleries
save this page print this page email this page
  • share this page

Outside Magazine

Animals A-Go-Go
Sperm Whales in Norway

By Meg Lukens Noonan

Koalas in Kangaroo Island | Monkeys in Borneo | Sea Otters in Alaska | Whales in Norway | Elephants in Tanzania | Moose in Wyoming | Iguanas in the Galápagos | Scarlet Macaws in Costa Rica

Moby Dick, an "intelligent malignity." But the whale is malign only if you happen to be a giant squid (the average 45-ton, 55-foot-long male sperm whale will dive down to 4,000 feet hunting squid and can consume about a ton of them a day). Sperm whales live—and have been hunted—in every ocean on the planet. Though their population was decimated by the whaling industry, they now number about 200,000 worldwide thanks to a 1986 ban on sperm whaling. These days their only pursuers in Norway are the fleet of research vessels that make the three- to five-hour round-trip from the small fishing village of Andenes to see some of the several hundred male whales that spend the summer offshore. Though the boat trip on the open sea can be rough and cold, the islands' climate is generally quite mild in summer. Midday temperatures range from 60 to 70 degrees; temperatures drop down to the forties or fifties in the evening when the sun dips low, but never sets.

WHAT ELSE YOU'LL SEE: Minke whales, killer whales, eagles, gannets, seals, terns, cormorants.



Next Page: Elephants in Tanzania

Koalas in Kangaroo Island | Monkeys in Borneo | Sea Otters in Alaska | Whales in Norway | Elephants in Tanzania | Moose in Wyoming | Iguanas in the Galápagos | Scarlet Macaws in Costa Rica


Meg Lukens Noonan is an occasional contributor to Outside.