Study shows whales suffer from the 'bends'

SPERM whales appear to be vulnerable to the "bends" just like deep-sea divers, scientists have revealed.

Researchers found evidence of bone damage in the giant animals similar to that suffered by divers.

The pitting and erosion of ribs, vertebrae and other bones was characteristic of a condition called osteonecrosis associated with decompression sickness, or the "bends".

It used to be thought that whales were immune to the disorder, which occurs when a too-rapid return to the surface causes body tissues to "fizz" with nitrogen bubbles.

Michael Moore and Greg Early, from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, examined the bones of 17 dead sperm whales collected over 111 years. As body length increased, there was an increase in the severity of bone damage.

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers said: "It appears that sperm whales may be neither anatomically nor physiologically immune to the effects of deep diving."