Ribs as ceiling beams, guts as carpeting... now what?

September 27, 2007 1:39 PM

After being swallowed alive by a whale, what is the best course of action that might result in your survival?

Believe it or not, this is a serious question. What immediate perils would you face upon being swallowed? Stomach acids, zero visibility, stench? If you could puncture the stomach wall, would the pressure of the water depth kill you? Could you escape through the blow hole?

A character in my latest short story is literally stuck in the belly of a whale, and I need help determining his fate.

posted by (bb|[^b]{2}) to grab bag (33 comments total)

Apparently a guy named Bartley claimed to have been swallowed by a whale in 1891. Accounts here and here.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:48 PM on September 27, 2007

This article may be of some use to you.

For what it's worth, googling "swallowed by a whale" is turning up quite a lot of other interesting stuff, and is in fact how I found this. Looking for James Bartley (the man in question) might also help.

Can we read this when it's done? Please?
posted by fuzzbean at 1:49 PM on September 27, 2007

Baleen whale throats are rather narrow relative to the overall size of the beast (example: a blue whale's throat is roughly 10" in diameter at full stretch) so your character—unless he's a sentient form of plankton—is unlikely to have made it past the whale's uvula (assuming whales have uvulas. They probably don't).
posted by jamaro at 1:53 PM on September 27, 2007

Since whales have multi-chambered stomachs like a cow, you may need to research the digestive system of the particular variety you choose to swallow your protagonist.
posted by nanojath at 1:57 PM on September 27, 2007

The first problem, assuming this is not a baleen whale, would be teeth.

Next, and this would be for either baleen or not, drowning on all the water that would also be swallowed.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:59 PM on September 27, 2007

I've always thought that you would suffocate first, as I doubt they would have a huge cave full of oxygen inside their bodies..
posted by lain at 1:59 PM on September 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

How could this be possible? Whales don't have huge cavern mouths like in cartoons.
posted by agregoli at 2:07 PM on September 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sperm Whales would be the only possible whale that could swallow a human.
posted by edgeways at 2:08 PM on September 27, 2007

(they have 11 inch teeth btw)
posted by edgeways at 2:11 PM on September 27, 2007

I think your character would drown, because in addition to swallowing him, the whale would also swallow a lot of water, which would come flooding in very fast.
posted by rtha at 2:13 PM on September 27, 2007

The blow hole passes through the skull - it is actually the nasal aperture that has migrated to the top of the head. In a gray whale skull which I have the bony aperture is about the diameter of a softball. So, no, crawling out the blowhole is not really an option - however flexible the nasal passage may be, it is constrained by bone..
posted by Rumple at 2:13 PM on September 27, 2007

Do whales have a gag reflex?
posted by Eringatang at 2:18 PM on September 27, 2007

you could always try the rear exit.
posted by jak68 at 2:22 PM on September 27, 2007

Eaten by a sperm whale. Fuck.

I've heard somewhere that there's a theory that the biblical Jonah was acctually swallowed and regurgitated by a great white shark. Whale, shark, whatever; it's all horrifying.

I guess if one were wearing scuba gear and got past the teeth/crushing pressure, one might make it to the back of the mouth. If one were lucky enough to have been swallowed by a whale with an esspecially wide throat, then that person would have to deal with the digestive juices/gallons upon gallons of krill (read: no visibility or room to move) they would encounter in the whale's stomach. A whale's blowhole isn't connected to their digestive tract, so that wouldn't be an option for egress.

My guess is that this unlucky charactor is screwed.
posted by Pecinpah at 2:24 PM on September 27, 2007

Whales cannot breathe through their mouths as the trachea in whales isn't connected to their esophagus, thus no crawling out the blowhole unless you somehow ended up in the lungs first. (I totally jumped up during Finding Nemo and called fake. Apparently, talking fish do not phase me, but misplaced whale anatomy does).

Other random whale trivia (god, if only I was on Jeopardy, I'd totally sweep the Wily Whales category):

Sperm whales have teeth only on the lower jaw. The teeth on the upper jaw never erupt above the gum line. The lower jaw teeth can weight up to two pounds each and max out at 8" long.

Whales of all species are rather good at not swallowing seawater, using their very large tongues to press water out of their mouth using their teeth or baleen as a sieve to keep the food in. Your guy would be smushed or spat out rather than swallowed.
posted by jamaro at 2:26 PM on September 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Walk up the tongue and TICKLE UVULA WITH FEATHER
posted by avocet at 2:30 PM on September 27, 2007 [7 favorites]

Do whales have a gag reflex?

Well, ambergris is whale puke, so maybe?
posted by drezdn at 2:34 PM on September 27, 2007

@avocet, walking up the tongue is the hard part! How long did I spend trying to figure out the route? Good grief. Someday, I'll tell my children how harsh life was before GameFAQs.com...

Ahem. Anyway, I'm hoping the OP will tell us the plan given the above drawbacks.
posted by wintersweet at 2:36 PM on September 27, 2007

Lots of great info here. Thanks! After considering the various drawbacks, I might scrap this plot point altogether... still debating. The tongue filter may have put this idea to sleep.
posted by (bb|[^b]{2}) at 2:56 PM on September 27, 2007

Have you read Fluke by Christopher Moore? ---SPOILER---This question is kind of addressed and there are certainly lots of humans cruising around inside whales and whale-biology goodness. Oh, and it is a fun read.
posted by fieldtrip at 4:09 PM on September 27, 2007

O oo oo! I know!

Whales of all species are rather good at not swallowing seawater, using their very large tongues to press water out of their mouth using their teeth or baleen as a sieve to keep the food in. Your guy would be smushed or spat out rather than swallowed.

Your character could get eaten by the whale, stay in the mouth, but then blow his/her way through its teeth to get out!
posted by fermezporte at 4:12 PM on September 27, 2007

[HURF DURF CETACEANS GOODBYE, jeez]
posted by jessamyn at 4:27 PM on September 27, 2007

Some images to help you visualize:

Sperm whale's mouth. Note the very narrow jaw. Despite having the largest head of any animal on the planet, the sperm whale's jaw is basically a fence post with teeth, though the teeth aren't thought to be used much in hunting (toothless sperm whales have been captured with full stomachs).

Baleen whale's mouth (in this case, a humpback's). This particular whale [the one on the left] is coming up from below, mouth wide, to trap his prey against the surface of the water. The lower jaw has numerous pleats in the skin, which expand to temporarily hold the vast quantities of water being scooped up. Think of the baleen as stiff broom which runs in a curtain around the upper jaw. It's made of the same stuff as our hair and fingernails.

Whale shark. Very impressive while cruising about with its mouth agape, this fish (not a mammal) seems like a good candidate for a-swallowing but in cross-section, you can see there's not a lot of room inside. The basking shark can open its mouth even wider, though at 20', a grown man would be a very tight fit inside. All of these animals, mammal or fish, have tremendous amounts of muscle tissue which fill in the edges, so to speak.
posted by jamaro at 4:54 PM on September 27, 2007 [7 favorites]

Just wanted to give you props for the "Mariner's Revenge Song" reference in your post title.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 5:35 PM on September 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

@avocet, walking up the tongue is the hard part! How long did I spend trying to figure out the route? Good grief. Someday, I'll tell my children how harsh life was before GameFAQs.com...

It sadly ruined the game for me.

I had one of those 'hold the red decoder up to the answers' hint books that was the biggest tease when I couldn't ever get out of that damn whale.
posted by avocet at 5:47 PM on September 27, 2007

There was a bug in the game right? Because I could walk up real-easy-like to the uvula, but my aunt had all sorts of trouble on her computer. I think they ended up sending her a newer version of the game. But, I digress...
posted by Eringatang at 8:10 PM on September 27, 2007

jamaro, wow. that was a great answer.
posted by twistofrhyme at 11:07 PM on September 27, 2007

I've heard somewhere that there's a theory that the biblical Jonah was acctually swallowed and regurgitated by a great white shark.

That's a really stupid theory, considering that it is all a metaphor and not meant to be taken seriously.
posted by sour cream at 11:11 PM on September 27, 2007

If the whale dives with your character in its mouth or stomach, the increased water pressure will compress its lungs (and, presumably, anything else compressible), increasing your character's risk of death.

If your character escapes while the whale is at depth, the increased water pressure will almost certainly squash them. If they stay within the whale till it resurfaces, they will probably die from decompression sickness.

So if swallowed, your character's escape will need to be speedy.
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:42 AM on September 28, 2007

What about a giant squid instead?
posted by letahl at 6:47 AM on September 28, 2007

When you're stuck inside a whale's belly, you do not have time to debate exactly how you got there. If survival is desirable, time is short.

I see two primary concerns: Lack of oxygen and water pressure. These two factors are both controlled by the whale. Unfortunately, this means the whale must die.

To survive, first your character needs to punch himself out of the belly and find his way to the lungs. The lungs must then be detached from their original body and then re-attached to your character as an oxygen tank.

By now the whale will begin to die. This may happen in two ways: The whale sinks or the whale floats. As noted by Pallas Athena, floating will kill your character from decompression. So cross your fingers that it sinks. By pushing his hands and feet outwards, your character will be able to increase the whale's volume, and thus control the whale's buoyancy. (At this point, any leaks in the whale must be clogged. Whale tongue will work fine for this purpose.) Now your character only needs to float as slow as he can towards the surface, crawl out and swim to the nearest shore.
posted by cheerleaders_to_your_funeral at 7:08 AM on September 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

I was going to mention Bartley, but since that's been covered, I'll offer the 4^th grade level solution (also applies to elephants):
Run and run and run and run until you're all pooped out.
posted by plinth at 7:53 AM on September 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

I've heard somewhere that there's a theory that the biblical Jonah was acctually swallowed and regurgitated by a great white shark.

Actually the rumor is that he was swallowed by a whale shark, which is huge, eats plankton, and can turn it's stomach inside out when needed.
posted by dr. moot at 4:38 PM on September 29, 2007