Smallest beached Texel sperm whale was 19 years old

This video from the USA says about itself:

Jonathan Bird’s Blue World: Sperm Whales

12 March 2013

The Sperm whale holds many records. It is the deepest-diving whale on Earth, the largest toothed whale on Earth and has the largest brain on the planet too. On top of that, it has a reputation for being a vicious beast, thanks in part to Herman Melville‘s Moby Dick. But the real Sperm whale is a lot different than people think.

It has a highly-evolved social life, operates at depths where nobody can see them most of the time, and uses sonar which is so sophisticated that it makes the Navy’s electronics look like toys. Sperm whales are very hard to find and even harder to film. In the Caribbean, Jonathan repeatedly attempts to get close to the elusive whales, until finally he succeeds and has an incredible experience eye to eye with a giant who investigates him with powerful sonar clicks.

Translated from Ecomare museum on Texel island in the Netherlands:

Smallest sperm whale was 19 years old – 23-03-2016

The five sperm whales which stranded last January near beach post 12 along the Texel coast were young males, which was already known.

Of one of the dead animals the exact age has been determined. In a sawed off tooth of the sperm whale researchers counted 19 rings. Although it was the smallest animal, only 9.6 meters long, is not sure if it was the youngest whale. The length and the age of sperm whales do not always correspond simply. The teeth of the other animals will be examined later.

Other research continues as well.

The jaw of this 19-year-old male is now in Ecomare museum.

Large amounts of marine debris found in sperm whales stranded along the North Sea coast in early 2016: here.

A new study sheds light on how toothed whales adapted their sonar abilities to occupy different environments. The study shows that as animals grew bigger, they were able to put more energy into their echolocation sounds — but surprisingly, the sound energy increased much more than expected: here.