Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat
Herman Melville’s novelMoby Dickwas inspired by historical instances in which large sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus L.) sank 19th century whaling ships by ramming them with their foreheads. The immense forehead of sperm whales is possibly the largest, and one of the strangest, anatomical struct...
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institution |
Open Polar |
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Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
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topic |
Animal Behavior Evolutionary Studies Marine Biology Zoology Sperm whale Spermaceti junk Ramming impact Finite element analysis Probabilistic simulation Connective tissue partitions envir socio |
spellingShingle |
Animal Behavior Evolutionary Studies Marine Biology Zoology Sperm whale Spermaceti junk Ramming impact Finite element analysis Probabilistic simulation Connective tissue partitions envir socio Olga Panagiotopoulou Panagiotis Spyridis Todd C. Pataky David R. Carrier Hyab Mehari Abraha Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat |
topic_facet |
Animal Behavior Evolutionary Studies Marine Biology Zoology Sperm whale Spermaceti junk Ramming impact Finite element analysis Probabilistic simulation Connective tissue partitions envir socio |
description |
Herman Melville’s novelMoby Dickwas inspired by historical instances in which large sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus L.) sank 19th century whaling ships by ramming them with their foreheads. The immense forehead of sperm whales is possibly the largest, and one of the strangest, anatomical structures in the animal kingdom. It contains two large oil-filled compartments, known as the “spermaceti organ” and “junk,” that constitute up to one-quarter of body mass and extend one-third of the total length of the whale. Recognized as playing an important role in echolocation, previous studies have also attributed the complex structural configuration of the spermaceti organ and junk to acoustic sexual selection, acoustic prey debilitation, buoyancy control, and aggressive ramming. Of these additional suggested functions, ramming remains the most controversial, and the potential mechanical roles of the structural components of the spermaceti organ and junk in ramming remain untested. Here we explore the aggressive ramming hypothesis using a novel combination of structural engineering principles and probabilistic simulation to determine if the unique structure of the junk significantly reduces stress in the skull during quasi-static impact. Our analyses indicate that the connective tissue partitions in the junk reduce von Mises stresses across the skull and that the load-redistribution functionality of the former is insensitive to moderate variation in tissue material parameters, the thickness of the partitions, and variations in the location and angle of the applied load. Absence of the connective tissue partitions increases skull stresses, particularly in the rostral aspect of the upper jaw, further hinting of the important role the architecture of the junk may play in ramming events. Our study also found that impact loads on the spermaceti organ generate lower skull stresses than an impact on the junk. Nevertheless, whilst an impact on the spermaceti organ would reduce skull stresses, it would also cause high ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Olga Panagiotopoulou Panagiotis Spyridis Todd C. Pataky David R. Carrier Hyab Mehari Abraha |
author_facet |
Olga Panagiotopoulou Panagiotis Spyridis Todd C. Pataky David R. Carrier Hyab Mehari Abraha |
author_sort |
Olga Panagiotopoulou |
title |
Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat |
title_short |
Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat |
title_full |
Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat |
title_fullStr |
Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat |
title_full_unstemmed |
Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat |
title_sort |
architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat |
publisher |
PeerJ |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.pdf https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/1895.pdf https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1895 http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4824896 https://peerj.com/articles/1895/ https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.xml https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.html https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590v1 https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.xml https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.html https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590 https://peerj.com/articles/1895.xml https://peerj.com/articles/1895.html https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27069822/ https://doaj.org/article/0b9b4bcf3e344f4dace327c9346d43ab https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:384151 https://core.ac.uk/display/43391558 https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/27069822 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824896/ https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/architecture-of-the-sperm-whale-forehead-facilitates-ramming-comb https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2199110365 |
genre |
Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale |
op_source |
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op_rights |
lic_creative-commons |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1895 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
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4 |
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e1895 |
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spelling |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:50|dedup_wf_001::0530250bbe2d9ed9b2f2d6501f29dc1c 2023-05-15T17:59:27+02:00 Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat Olga Panagiotopoulou Panagiotis Spyridis Todd C. Pataky David R. Carrier Hyab Mehari Abraha 2016-04-05 https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.pdf https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/1895.pdf https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1895 http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4824896 https://peerj.com/articles/1895/ https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.xml https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.html https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590v1 https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.xml https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.html https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590 https://peerj.com/articles/1895.xml https://peerj.com/articles/1895.html https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27069822/ https://doaj.org/article/0b9b4bcf3e344f4dace327c9346d43ab https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:384151 https://core.ac.uk/display/43391558 https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/27069822 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824896/ https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/architecture-of-the-sperm-whale-forehead-facilitates-ramming-comb https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2199110365 undefined unknown PeerJ https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.pdf https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/1895.pdf https://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1895 http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4824896 https://peerj.com/articles/1895/ http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1895 https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.xml https://peerj.com/preprints/1590v1.html http://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590v1 https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.xml https://peerj.com/preprints/1590.html http://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590 https://peerj.com/articles/1895.xml https://peerj.com/articles/1895.html https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27069822/ https://doaj.org/article/0b9b4bcf3e344f4dace327c9346d43ab https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:384151 https://core.ac.uk/display/43391558 https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/27069822 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824896/ https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/architecture-of-the-sperm-whale-forehead-facilitates-ramming-comb https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2199110365 lic_creative-commons 10.7717/peerj.1895 27069822 oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4824896 oai:doaj.org/article:0b9b4bcf3e344f4dace327c9346d43ab 10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590v1 10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590 2199110365 10|openaire____::9e3be59865b2c1c335d32dae2fe7b254 openaire____::1256f046-bf1f-4afc-8b47-d0b147148b18 10|opendoar____::eda80a3d5b344bc40f3bc04f65b7a357 10|opendoar____::8b6dd7db9af49e67306feb59a8bdc52c 10|driver______::bee53aa31dc2cbb538c10c2b65fa5824 10|doajarticles::c238c15571d15eb19b3cf9e616c4cfdd 10|openaire____::55045bd2a65019fd8e6741a755395c8c 10|openaire____::081b82f96300b6a6e3d282bad31cb6e2 10|openaire____::8ac8380272269217cb09a928c8caa993 10|openaire____::5f532a3fc4f1ea403f37070f59a7a53a 10|openaire____::806360c771262b4d6770e7cdf04b5c5a Animal Behavior Evolutionary Studies Marine Biology Zoology Sperm whale Spermaceti junk Ramming impact Finite element analysis Probabilistic simulation Connective tissue partitions envir socio Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2016 fttriple https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1895 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1590 2023-01-22T17:23:22Z Herman Melville’s novelMoby Dickwas inspired by historical instances in which large sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus L.) sank 19th century whaling ships by ramming them with their foreheads. The immense forehead of sperm whales is possibly the largest, and one of the strangest, anatomical structures in the animal kingdom. It contains two large oil-filled compartments, known as the “spermaceti organ” and “junk,” that constitute up to one-quarter of body mass and extend one-third of the total length of the whale. Recognized as playing an important role in echolocation, previous studies have also attributed the complex structural configuration of the spermaceti organ and junk to acoustic sexual selection, acoustic prey debilitation, buoyancy control, and aggressive ramming. Of these additional suggested functions, ramming remains the most controversial, and the potential mechanical roles of the structural components of the spermaceti organ and junk in ramming remain untested. Here we explore the aggressive ramming hypothesis using a novel combination of structural engineering principles and probabilistic simulation to determine if the unique structure of the junk significantly reduces stress in the skull during quasi-static impact. Our analyses indicate that the connective tissue partitions in the junk reduce von Mises stresses across the skull and that the load-redistribution functionality of the former is insensitive to moderate variation in tissue material parameters, the thickness of the partitions, and variations in the location and angle of the applied load. Absence of the connective tissue partitions increases skull stresses, particularly in the rostral aspect of the upper jaw, further hinting of the important role the architecture of the junk may play in ramming events. Our study also found that impact loads on the spermaceti organ generate lower skull stresses than an impact on the junk. Nevertheless, whilst an impact on the spermaceti organ would reduce skull stresses, it would also cause high ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale Unknown PeerJ 4 e1895 |