Long before drones hovered over open water, sailors told stories of enormous whales ramming ships with terrifying force. Those accounts helped inspire Moby Dick — but for generations, researchers weren’t sure how much of that lore was grounded in real animal behavior.
Now, new footage suggests those tales may have been closer to reality than once thought. Researchers from the University of St Andrews have documented sperm whales repeatedly head-butting one another, capturing the behavior for the first time and offering a look into a suspected but never observed interaction.
Published in Marine Mammal Science, the study draws on footage collected between 2020 and 2022 in the Azores and Balearic Islands and shows whales deliberately using their massive heads to push and strike, confirming what 19th-century mariners once described.
“It was really exciting to observe this behavior, which we knew had been hypothesised for such a long time, but not yet documented and described systematically,” said Lead author Alec Burslem in a press release.
Capturing Sperm Whale Head-Butting Behavior
Sperm whales are among the largest predators on Earth, yet much of their behavior remains out of view. That has made it difficult for researchers to verify even widely reported actions, including the idea that whales might use their heads as weapons.
Using drones, researchers could observe these animals from above without disturbing them, capturing moments that would be nearly impossible to see from a boat. The recordings show sub-adult whales, rather than the large males previously thought to be involved, engaging in repeated head-to-head contact, challenging earlier ideas that the behavior was tied to male competition and raising new questions about its role in sperm whale social dynamics.
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Echoes of Maritime History
In 1820, the whaleship Essex was famously sunk after being struck by a sperm whale — an event that first mate Owen Chase later chronicled. His account described a massive animal charging the ship with unusual speed and force, its head partially above the water as it collided with the hull.
“I turned around and saw him about one hundred rods [approx. 500 m] directly ahead of us, coming down with twice his ordinary speed of around 24 knots, and it appeared with tenfold fury and vengeance in his aspect,” Chase noted, according to the press release.
Similar incidents were reported throughout the 19th century, though they were often dismissed as exaggerated or anecdotal.
The new study doesn’t confirm that whales intentionally attacked ships in the same way, but it does show that forceful head-butting is part of their behavioral repertoire. That alone lends new credibility to historical accounts that once seemed almost mythological.
Why Would Whales Do This?
Even with the new footage, the purpose behind this behavior remains unclear, and that uncertainty is part of what makes the discovery so intriguing.
Researchers have debated whether using the head in this way would even make sense. Some have argued that repeatedly striking objects could put key structures involved in sound production and communication at risk, raising doubts about whether such behavior would be favored at all.
But the new observations prove it does happen, even if researchers are still working out why. Rather than settling the debate, the footage opens new questions about how sperm whales interact and what role this behavior might play in their lives. It also underscores how much remains unknown below the surface.
“This unique overhead perspective for observing and documenting near-surface behaviour is just one of the ways drone technology is transforming the study of wildlife biology. It’s exciting to think about what as-yet unseen behaviours we may soon uncover,” added Burslem.
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