If a Whale Swallowed You, What Would Happen?

Welcome to the “Survive, no matter what” show! Today our host, Alberto, will perform a crazy trick. Last year he lived in a cave with a grizzly bear for two months and managed to survive. Do you remember how Alberto smeared himself with minced meat and jumped into a pool with piranhas? I hope you haven’t forgotten how Alberto grilled a barbecue on an awakened volcano? Well, forget it!

Today Alberto will do the most dangerous and crazy trick in his life. Especially for you, dear viewers, he will get swallowed by a giant blue whale. Alberto goes to the North Atlantic. It’s a vast area of water where you can meet blue whales and cachalots. He gets on a yacht and sails far from the shore. He’s going to look for whales using echolocation and binoculars.

A few days have passed. Alberto sits on board and studies the horizon. The sonar detects some movement. He looks toward the signal and sees a water fountain rising into the sky. It’s a giant blue whale! The largest mammal on the planet. Yes, it’s a mammal, not a fish.

So, Alberto smears himself with oil to easily squeeze into the whale’s throat. He takes an oxygen mask and jumps into the water. The blue whale opens its mouth and absorbs a massive amount of water.

Its mouth is filled with whalebone. These are the bristles that replace teeth. They consist of keratin protein. People’s hair and nails are made of it. The whale draws in water and then pushes it out. The bristles prevent small fish and plankton from leaving the mouth along with the liquid. Whalebone is like a filter.

Alberto swims closer. The whale takes a sip. It absorbs several dozen gallons of water and sucks up Alberto. Our hero is inside the storm. The water splashes in different directions, and a giant tongue, the size of an elephant, throws Alberto on different sides.

Alberto tries to get to the throat, but the water splashes back out. Alberto slides along the tongue to the mouth exit, but the whale closes his mouth, and he crashes into the whalebone. It’s a little painful.

A couple of bristles even fall off. The tongue wants to push him out, but Alberto manages to squeeze into its throat. But here, he meets a block. He can’t go further because of the structure of the whale. This colossal animal’s throat is tiny, the size of a fist. But, it can stretch.

Alberto had foreseen this. That’s why he smeared himself with oil. He stretches out to his full height and jumps into the throat. Now our hero finds himself inside a narrow esophagus. He slides on it like a slide in a water park.

Then, his speed decreases. The space becomes narrower. Now Alberto is crawling forward with difficulty. It’s very slippery here, and Alberto can barely move. The esophagus contracts and pushes Alberto further. Now he’s inside the stomach. It’s dark, cramped, and smells awful.

Alberto wants to light a match, but his pockets are entirely wet. And it’s a bad idea to make a fire here. Firstly, there’s almost no oxygen, which means no chance for a fire. Secondly, various chemical reactions occur inside the stomach, creating explosive gases. Alberto doesn’t want that.

He takes out a flashlight and examines the place. The walls of the stomach are narrow and constantly pulsating. Alberto can’t stand up to his full height. He’s knee-deep in some liquid. He sees skeletons of fish, shipwrecks, supermarket baskets, DVDs, a lamp, and a Moby Dick book around him.

No, that’s not true, as you’re unlikely to find anything interesting inside the whale’s stomach. Maybe a plastic bottle or some small squid. By the way, a cachalot, unlike a blue whale, has a wide and long throat. This allows it to swallow large prey whole. Technically, it can swallow a human with one sip. Anyway, you can find many exciting things in the cachalot’s stomach.

Once, this creature swallowed a giant squid whole. The length of these squids can reach 46 feet. It’s the size of a small bus. But the cachalot managed to swallow such prey thanks to the flexible structure of the squid’s body. Okay, let’s get back to Alberto. There’s a terrible smell in the whale’s stomach. Plankton and small fish are digested in gastric juice, and...wait...why does it hurt so much?

Alberto feels the stomach juice splitting his suit. Alberto tries to get up, but it’s too crowded in here. He hits the stomach walls with his hands, but nothing happens. The stomach narrows and squeezes Alberto more and more. The juice irritates his skin. Alberto shouts and waves his legs in different directions. He wants to cause a gag reflex. But why doesn’t it work?

Alberto is desperate, and he doesn’t know what to do. It seems that this is his last adventure. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Stop. A deep breath! Precisely! Alberto opens the oxygen tank and fills the stomach with fresh air.

Now the whale begins to bloat and is filled with gas. The stomach is throbbing, the juice is foaming, and it seems a storm is coming. The walls contract so much that they squeeze Alberto out through the esophagus. Together with the remains of fish and juice, he moves forward. The esophagus is getting narrower.

Alberto finds it hard to breathe, but he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. The whale spits him out. Alberto is alive! He’s happy that he managed to escape such an adventure unharmed. He returns to the boat and sails to the shore. But, wait a minute! What is it swimming by right now? It’s a cachalot! What a stroke of luck!

Alberto dives into the water again. He’s heading straight for the mouth of this huge animal. The cachalot absorbs water. Several fish and an octopus get there along with Alberto. The cachalot pushes him with its tongue in different directions and swallows all the prey. The throat is wide enough, and Alberto easily manages to get there. But there’s another problem.

Alberto is already in a very tight esophagus where he can hardly breathe. And he doesn’t have an oxygen tank! Alberto feels like he’s been wrapped tightly in duct tape. He can’t do anything, and there’s no air here. He squeezes deep into the esophagus and feels that he is not alone here. In addition to the octopus, he feels the movements of large tentacles. WOW! It’s a giant squid! And it seems it’s still alive!

Alberto shakes his whole body but can’t change anything. He loses consciousness. The stomach walls are pressing on his face. At this point, Alberto bites it. An earthquake begins. All that lay in the stomach comes out. Finally, Alberto is outside.

A colossal squid swims away as far as possible. It seems it hasn’t understood what happened to it. Our hero climbs onto the yacht. He’s the happiest person on the planet right now. He starts the engine and heads to the shore. You must understand that Alberto’s story is purely hypothetical. Of course, in reality, a whale wouldn’t be able to swallow a human.

Reports that a person ended up in a whale’s stomach are overgrown with myths and legends. Yes, there were cases when people got into their giant mouths, but they didn’t go through the throat. One day a diver got there. But he miraculously survived thanks to scuba diving equipment that helped him breathe.

Another case occurred with people who were kayaking. When a humpback whale catches fish, it swims up to the surface with its mouth open. It’s like a grid that rises from below. Those guys on the kayaks were too close and fell into the whale’s mouth.

Anyway, don’t worry, a whale can’t swallow you. It’s impossible! But it’s possible for a cachalot! The good news is that this is a rare animal. The probability of getting into its stomach is one in a billion. It’s more likely that a meteorite will fall near you.

Most people on Earth will never see a cachalot in real life. These animals swim worldwide in open oceans but spend most of their time at a depth of about 10,000 feet. That’s 10 times the height of the Eiffel Tower but just in the ocean!