The sperm whale is an astonishing creature. It’s longer than a semi-truck, weighs more than 90, 000 pounds and is the largest member of the toothed whale family. It’s known to dive 6, 500 feet in search of food, and to stay down there for longer than an hour at a time.
Perhaps most fantastically, the sperm whale’s brain weighs as much as 20 pounds-the biggest of any species on Earth. But when it comes to brains, is size all that matters? There’s a lot we don’t know about the sperm whale’s intelligence because it’s difficult to carry out neurological (神经的) testing on such a huge marine mammal. But some clues point to sperm whales being much smarter than we give them credit for.
A 2021 study published in Biology Letters, for example, looked back to 19th-century historical logbooks from whalers. Researchers found that sperm whales were at first easy to catch-but almost immediately, the whales learned how to evade hunters and whaling success dropped by 60 percent. The study suggests that the whales passed information to one another through soundwaves to avoid being caught.
Animals that have big brains usually have a few things in common. They usually live long lives; for example, sperm whales can live for 70 years or longer. Additionally, they’re capable of complex behaviors and they tend to be more socia1. Whales may work together to hunt or communicate in a language all their own.
What’s more, humans, whales and dolphins all have spindle neurons in their brains. These nerve cells make us capable of deeper thought, such as reasoning skills, memory, communication and adaptive thinking. And like humans, whales have emotional intelligence- meaning they're capable of empathy, grief and sadness. Still, in proportion to (与…成比例)our body size, the human brain is bigger than that of the sperm whale.
Yet there’s still so much we don’t know about how smart sperm whales really are. And just like the whalers of a century ago, we have likely been underestimating marine mammals, whether large or small, for as long as we’ve known of their existence.
8. Why do people know little about the sperm whale’s intelligence?
A.Sperm whales’ big size makes research difficult. |
B.It didn’t attract scientists’ attention until recently. |
C.Whalers didn’t keep enough records of their hunting. |
D.Sperm whales usually stay deep down in the ocean. |
9. What does the underlined word “evade” mean in paragraph 3?
A.Track. | B.Avoid. | C.Locate. | D.Trick. |
10. What conclusion can we draw from paragraph 5?
A.The nerve cells distinguish humans from animals. |
B.Sperm whales have smaller brains than humans. |
C.Spindle neurons make higher intelligence possible. |
D.Emotional intelligence is unique to whales and humans. |
11. Which is the most suitable title for the text?
A.Sperm Whales Are Astonishingly Smart |
B.Sperm Whales Have the Biggest Brain |
C.Break the Code of Whale Language |
D.Unlock the Mystery of Sea Mammals |