Can Whales Swallow People?

This is what it’s like to nearly get eaten by a whale

By Brad Plumer, Published: August 2 at 1:00 pmE-mail the writer

In today’s Lunch Break, a couple of divers almost get swallowed by a pair of humpback whales. 

So what would happen if a humpback whale did try to eat you? According to NOAA, baleen whales have small throats about the size of basketballs. So they certainly couldn’t swallow a human. But they do have powerful tongues and the overall experience might not be too pleasant.

Relatedly, here’s a long Salon essay from 2012 in which Ben Shattuck tries to find a record of any whale ever swallowing a human. (Sperm whales, with their sharp, 8-inch teeth, seem like one possible candidate.) He comes up empty, but it’s an entertaining read all the same.

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Anne Herbert's re-telling of The Book of Jonah is inimitably good, an unparalleled example of how to tell "bible stories."   http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-story-of-jonah-re-told-by-anne.html