Answer: Sperm Whales

The hunting habits of Sperm Whales are an excellent example of ingenuity in the animal kingdom. The whales are enormous; Sperm Whales average 36-52 feet (11-16 meters) in length and 17-50 tons (15-45 metric tonnes) in weight and, as you can imagine, require quite a bit of fuel every day to keep going strong. The estimated global fish/seafood intake of the Sperm Whale population, for example, has been estimated at 100 million tons (91 million metric tonnes) per year; scarfing down that much food year in and year out requires a bit of cleverness and skilled hunting.

Groups of Sperm Whales outfitted with tracking tags and sensors have been observed to dive to the depths of the ocean and then invert themselves while hunting. This position allows them to easily look up through the light filtering down from the surface of the ocean and, in the process, readily spot the outline of large prey such as squid. Once they spot their prey it’s only a matter of gliding along beneath it and then rising up to attack.