What Would Happened if you were Swallowed by a Whale?

If you've never seen a whale up close, it's hard to understand just how monstrous they can really be. To put it in perspective, the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet. It's tongue alone weighs as much as an elephant and it can fit anywhere between 400 and 500 people in its mouth but we wouldn't have to worry about one of these guys swallowing us anytime soon because their Anatomy makes it nearly impossible.

The sperm whales are more dangerous than the giant Baleen whales. In 1891 reports emerged of a man who was swallowed by one of these whales and although he survived, he would never be the same again. According to the story James Bartley was swallowed when a whale attacked his ship and he wasn't retrieved until the following day when the crew found and killed the whale.

After cutting open the whale, they found an unconscious James Bartley. His skin had been bleached white by the stomach acids, and he was blind. However, after years of questioning, people began poking holes in this story. They argued whether James really had been swallowed by a whale and come back out with white skin. With the power of science, we discovered that if you are swallowed by a whale and come back out with shiny skin, it would be the least of your worries.

Once swallowed by a sperm whale, your first concern would be the peril of being torn apart by the formidable set of teeth it possesses. These teeth are each around 20 centimetres long, comparable in length to an average chef's knife, and a sperm whale typically possesses 40 to 50 of them. If, by some stroke of luck, you manage to avoid these teeth, your descent down the throat begins. In this dark and slimy passage, breathing becomes difficult due to the lack of oxygen and an increase in methane gas resulting from the whale's throat muscles constricting to push you further down. Moreover, the presence of hydrochloric acid would begin to corrode your skin.

I understand your scepticism, as James Bartley's story may indeed seem implausible at first. Nevertheless, let's continue with the adventure. You'll now find yourself dropped into the first and largest of the whale's four stomachs. While it might be a lengthy stay, there's a glimmer of hope in the form of bioluminescent squid or tubes that could provide some illumination once you're in there. Sperm whales have a fondness for neon flying squid, so you might enjoy a brief light show courtesy of these creatures following your arrival.

However, don't get too comfortable, as the journey doesn't end there. From one stomach to the next, you'll be tossed around, and the potent acids will break down nearly all of your body, reducing you to a mere collection of bones that will ultimately be unceremoniously expelled from the whale's anus. Quite an adventure, wouldn't you agree?

Indeed, it can be confidently stated that being swallowed whole by a whale and surviving to recount the experience is highly implausible. James might have succeeded in deceiving people in the 1890s, but today, we are not so easily fooled. As immense and formidable as whales may appear, they hold no inclination to consume humans. If they possessed the ability to communicate, they would likely be keen on emphasizing this fact to us.