There is lots of helpful information available
on the web regarding how to survive an animal attack. Such as how to keep alive if a lion attacks
you. Firstly, don’t try and outrun it, lions
can reach speeds of 50mph (80kph). Experts say face it head on and try to look
big. Regardless, you’ll likely suffer. If you come up against a bear, again, look
big, but also scream and shout like a madman. If that fails, hit the ground and act dead. If it’s a shark certainly don’t play dead,
‘cos it might just see that as an invite. We are told keep eye contact with the shark,
don’t splash around and you might want to curl up into a ball. Easier said than done, eh. But today we’ll look at the craziest of
dangers, in this episode of the Infographics Show, What if a whale accidentally swallowed
you? Before we get to the heart of the matter,
or should we say stomach, stories of humans being swallowed by whales have been around
for a while. You might know the tale of Jonah from the
Old Testament, who was apparently swallowed by a giant fish. Maybe they meant a giant mammal, a whale. In the Quran it’s written, “Then the big
fish did swallow him, and he had done acts worthy of blame. Had it not been that he repented and glorified
Allah. He would certainly have remained inside the
fish.” We doubt these days that repenting would encourage
the big fish to spit you back out. Now let’s have a look at the size of a whale
and its mouth before we talk about more recent stories of people claiming to have been swallowed
by them. The Blue Whale, the largest of them all, can
measure about 100 feet (30 meters) in length. They can weight 400,000 pounds (around 180,000
kgs). Its tongue alone is said to weigh as much
as an average size Asian Elephant. As for the important matter of its gaping
kisser, one website tells us, “You and 400 of your friends could fit in its mouth.” Then we have sperm whales, which will feature
in today’s show. They are smaller, but a bit scarier as they
are the biggest of the toothed whales. They might be smaller, but they are no pushovers,
which you will know if you’ve ever read a book that began, “Call me Ishmael.” That’s “Moby Dick” for our viewers not
fond of reading. Large sperm whales can reach a length of 67
feet (20.5 meters) and weigh 112,435 pounds (51,000 kgs). They are big eaters, too, consuming about
3 percent of their body weight every day. So, what we are saying is that getting a human,
or even a bunch of humans, inside a whale’s mouth wouldn’t be a problem at all. But has it actually happened? Well, you might have read the most recent
tale of this supposedly happening that has been circulating around the web. But we all know by now, or at least we hope
you know, that you must be very careful about what you believe concerning stories on the
internet. This particular story told us that in 2015
a Spanish fisherman named Luigi Marquez was swallowed by a whale and lived in its belly
for three days before emerging in one piece with the best ever story to tell his mates. Lo and behold, the tale was first reported
by a dubious spiritual website. Hmm, three days, that’s the same time Jonah
had a sabbatical inside the giant fish. It was totally fake, but this didn’t stop
numerous websites passing the story on. Yes, we all should lament the fall of journalism. But let’s look further into men disappearing
in whales. The most famous story that hasn’t absolutely,
completely, been debunked is the tale of a man called James Bartley, aka, the “Modern
Jonah.” It’s said in 1891 he was indeed swallowed
by a whale, but the whale died, and the man was found alive inside its stomach. This was widely reported in the British and
American press at the time. One British media outlet ran the headline,
“Rescue of a Modern Jonah” while many America newspapers also ran the story. 38-year old Mr. Bartley had been a sailor
on the British ship, Star of the East. During their long trip the crew saw a large
whale swimming off the coast of the Falkland Islands in South America. They dropped a couple of boats and armed with
harpoons went to hunt the beast. The little boats were no match for the massive
whale and it tipped them, although it had been hit with two harpoons and was mortally
injured. Most crew were rescued, but one drowned and
another went missing, presumed drowned. That was our dear Mr. Bartley. The ship managed to finish the whale off and
pull it on board. About a day and half later after the crew
had been cutting the whale open they noticed something moving, a man curled in a ball,
covered in whale stomach. It was the missing sailor. And that’s the story. He’d apparently survived 36 hours inside
the whale. This is how the newspapers reported it, “The
workmen were startled while laboring to clear it and to fasten the chain about it to discover
something doubled up in it that gave spasmodic signs of life. “
He made a full recovery, and this is what he supposedly told the crew of his internal
adventure, according to one source at least: “He was engulfed by darkness and felt himself
slipping along a smooth passage that seemed to move and carry him forward. He came to an area with more room in it, and
was able to reach around. Upon feeling a yielding, slimy substance as
the walls, he realized he had been swallowed.” But was fake news around in the late 19th
century? Of course it was, humans have been telling
lies from when they first learned how to speak, and passing them on as truth. Some investigations into this story ensued,
with the investigators indeed saying there was a ship by that name sailing in that part
of the world at that time, but it was not a vessel equipped for whaling and there was
no British geezer on board with the name John Bartley. The captain’s wife also said this, “There
is not one word of truth in the whale story. I was with my husband all the years he was
in the Star of the East. There was never a man lost overboard while
my husband was in her. The sailor has told a great sea yarn.” You can’t beat a good sea yarn, but now
let’s look more at the science of the matter. Well, no one would deny that a human could
fit in a whale’s mouth. But what would happen after the initial entrance? One scientist says if it was a Blue Whale
we wouldn’t even fit down the animal’s esophagus- it’s just too small. So, we might end-up in its mouth, but we would
just get spat back out. But toothy whales are a different matter altogether. Both sperm whales and killer whales do swallow
very large prey, bigger than us. One scientist says if we managed to get past
all those sharp teeth and we went down the hole our next hurdle would be dealing with
the whale’s digestive system. Enzymes would burn your skin and you’d be
in a bit of state, and if somehow you were still alive you’d end up in one of four
stomach chambers. And if you’ve made it all the way you can
give yourself a slap on the back, but you’ll die very quickly anyway because there is no
air down there, just methane gas, which is not exactly good for you. The Smithsonian magazine, which we can rely
on in terms of scientific content, agreed with the same scientist, who concluded when
asked if we could survive, “Certainly, no air inside a fish, so I think that’s really
what’s going to get you in the end. So I’m afraid no.” We can find nothing out there from trustworthy
news sources that say any different. If fact, one journalist working for Salon
spent days going over archives at the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library, and
he found zero cases of whales swallowing anyone, never mind someone surviving. Sure, mess with these creatures and you might
lose an arm or a leg, but it seems they are not keen consuming an entire human. What we can find, and we’ve seen the videos,
are people getting a little too close as giant whales swim with open mouths trying to grab
a load of fish. In one video the man looks tiny, so indeed,
he could have at least ended up in the whale’s mouth. A word of advice: Stay out of the way of a
whale’s orifice. We also found this on a diver’s website,
“The diver recalls being hit hard by the whale shark. Then the diver was sucked into the mouth of
the whale shark, head first, and half-swallowed up to her thighs. The diver struggled to escape the whale shark's
mouth for a brief moment before the shark spat the diver out.” That was a shark, but you get the picture. Others haven’t been so lucky, and the beasts
chomped instead of spat. Think anyone’s ever been swallowed by a
whale? Could you really survive in a whale’s stomach
for 36 hours? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our other video
What if USA Paid off Its Debt. Thanks for watching, and as always, please
don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time.
he has a really, really dull way of speaking.
during a long trip, he went to south america.
rinse repeat.
it's like chef john.#
a 30 second answer in a 7.5 minute video with someone who has an awful speaking voice = i can't watch the rest.
This is the poor man's Kurzgesagt.
Does anyone else get a wannabe Kurzgesagt vibe?
The information I never knew I needed.