What Being Swallowed By A Whale Would be Like

A Blue Whale About to Swallow Dory and Marlin in Finding Nemo

Ava Padelford, Lead Writer

The deep blue sea comes with many wonders and unanswered questions. I recently had a dream where I was about to be swallowed by a whale, but as it took a big gulp, I woke up. This dream started a burning thought in my mind. I want to make it very clear you will most likely never be in a situation where you even come close to being swallowed by a whale. But what would it actually be like to be swallowed by a whale? Would you survive?

 

The odds of actually being swallowed by a whale are very slim. Chances are if a whale sees you, it definitely doesn’t want you in their system. Many whales simply eat krill, and have no interest in humans. So, what would happen if you got swallowed by a whale? If you were that lucky person?

 

Sperm whales are able to swallow squids whole so they wouldn’t have a problem swallowing a human. There’s no doubt that a human would suffocate and die inside a whale. There’s little chance of survival. There are things, however, one could do to prevent death.

 

Before diving into the prevention of death, we must understand the anatomy of a whale. Most whales don’t have teeth. They have baleen plates that lay in their jaw. They open their mouth and let an abundance of krill and water in and then push the water out with their tongue through their teeth and eat their food. The food then enters the throat that constricts in and out to help bring the food down. After, it enters the stomach which is filled with hydrochloric acid. 

 

If you were swallowed , you would go through the same process as the krill. Eventually, as you went through the throat, you would start to feel the acid burning your skin. This is an instant death. 

 

You wouldn’t ever be prepared for something this improbable to happen. Realistically, this wouldn’t ever happen to you. Our mind is full of curiosity, so I will tell you how to survive anyways. 

 

As the whale opens its mouth, you would want to get into a small ball. This would decrease the chance of getting your arms and legs amputated. As the whale swallows its food, the best thing to do would be to hold onto something in the whale’s mouth. Every few hours they throw up, and out comes big pieces of waste they don’t need. You could possibly come out too! 

 

If you don’t come out, or you get sucked into the throat, the only thing to protect you from the stomach acid would be a special suit that you definitely don’t own. Sorry to say it, but the odds of you surviving this situation are one in a million. 

 

The best thing to do would be to STAY OUT of this situation. It’s definitely easy to do. Remain on land. Less worries anyways.