Sperm whales are the deepest diving mammals on Earth, with welfare threats including entanglement in fishing gear, ship strikes, noise pollution from sonar and seismic surveys, and plastic ingestion.
Sperm whales suffering entanglement in fishing gear face drowning or prolonged struggling that causes exhaustion and injury. Acoustic disturbance from military sonar and seismic surveys may cause disorientation and panic leading to strandings. Plastic ingestion causes intestinal blockage, malnutrition, and slow death. Ship strikes, though less documented than in right whales, cause fatal blunt trauma. The cultural and social complexity of sperm whale societies means that individual deaths disrupt learned knowledge transmission affecting wider family welfare.