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Arts & Culture

INSIDE NATURE'S GIANTS: Sperm Whale

Scientists examine a sperm whale that stranded and died on Pegwell Bay, Kent, England.
Courtesy of Windfall Films
Scientists examine a sperm whale that stranded and died on Pegwell Bay, Kent, England.

Airs Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

A team of experts dissect the largest animals on the planet to uncover their evolutionary secrets in INSIDE NATURE'S GIANTS. In each episode, veterinary scientist Mark Evans, comparative anatomist Joy Reidenberg, biologist Simon Watt and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins explore the anatomy of a distinct giant predator to reveal how it works.

"Sperm Whale" - Veterinary scientist Mark Evans and comparative anatomist Dr. Joy Reidenberg dissect a sperm whale’s enormous organs to reveal the secrets of this 45-foot deep-sea giant, which stranded and died on Pegwell Bay, Kent, England.

As the team ventures inside the whale, biologist Simon Watt tracks whales in the Azores with a modern-day Jonah, Malcolm Clarke, who shows him the huge number of squid beaks in a whale’s stomach.

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Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, marveling at the gigantic teeth that have evolved in the lower jaw of a sperm whale, digs out his copy of the King James Bible for a reading about Leviathan from the Book of Job.

This series originally aired in 2011.

Dr. Joy Reidenberg is on Facebook. Mark Evans is on Facebook, and you can follow @MarkEvansTV on Twitter.

More Episodes:

"Giant Python" repeats Wednesday, July 30, 2014 at 11 p.m.

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"Great White Shark" repeats Wednesday, August 6, 2014 at 11 p.m.

"Big Cats" repeats Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 11 p.m.

"Giant Squid" and "Camel" are not currently scheduled to rebroadcast, but you can watch the full episodes below: