Science Discovered Speaker Simon Watt Explores the Mysteries of The Sperm Whale

Science Discovered Speaker Simon Watt Explores the Mysteries of The Sperm Whale

August 11, 2011

Following the critical success of the feature length Artic special about Polar Bear’s, the Bafta Award Winning series Inside Nature’s Giants is back with another fascinating episode about a Sperm Whale which became stranded and died on Pegwell Bay earlier this year. Featuring Science Discovered speaker Simon Watt, the Inside Nature’s Giants team battle through the night against a rising tide to explore the mysteries of the largest predator on earth, the Sperm Whale.

Despite their enormous size very little is known about Sperm Whales because their lives are normally hidden deep down beneath the sea so when the big whale washed up dead on a Kent beach in March it was too big an opportunity for the Inside Nature’s Giants team to miss. As you can’t take a 45 foot whale to a lab or studio, the team had to dissect the whale on the beach at night, under floodlights, battling against the impending rising tide. As the team went deeper inside the whale, Science Discovered speaker Simon Watt tracked whales in the Azores with Malcom Clark. He was shown prised whale samples that are used in perfumery and the huge number of squid beaks that collect in a whales stomach. As Simon went diving with whales in the Azores, the program revealed how Sperm Whales can survive diving thousands of metres under water for over an hour on one gulp of air, in conditions that would freeze our blood and crush our bones.

Nominated for a Famelab award, Simon Watt is the evolutionary biologist on Inside Nature's Giants, tasked with being the guinea pig in various experiments to demonstrate the extreme physiological challenges animals face. Regularly appearing on TV and radio Simon is a rising star in science communication, specialising in communicating biology theories to schools and he will be sharing these theories at Adaptable Travel’s educational event Science Discovered.If you would like to take a school trip to see this truly inspirational speaker and rising star along with BBC Wonders of the Universe Star Professor Brian Cox and Steve Mould why not contact us for more information about Science Discovered.

To view the Science Discovered short film please visit our facebook page- http://www.facebook.com/AdaptableTravel

To watch this fascinating Inside Nature’s Giants episode please click on the following link- http://www.channel4.com/programmes/inside-natures-giants/4od