Can a Whale Swallow a Human?

Key Points

• 1A 23-year-old kayaker was briefly swallowed by a humpback whale.
• 2There are mainly two families of whales: baleen whales and toothed whales.
• 3Baleen whales have baleen, which is a filter-feeding system inside their mouth.
• 4Toothed whales have teeth and actively hunt larger prey.
• 5Both baleen whales and toothed whales cannot swallow humans.
• 6Sperm whales are the only whales in the world which have large enough throats to swallow a human.