以深且富生产力的海域为最，此类抹香鲸常出没的地区过去捕鲸者习惯称之为“基地”。 抹香鲸广泛分布于全世界不结冰的海域，由赤道一直到两极都可发现它们的踪迹，其由于抹香鲸的成长速度缓慢，以及对后代长期的照料，因此它们在被大量捕杀之后需要极为长久的时间才有可能恢复原有的数量。雌鲸约9岁大后性成熟，每4至6年才产一胎，较老的雌鲸生殖间隔可能更长。怀孕期至少在1年以上，可能长达18个月。雌鲸哺乳期至少2年，
繁殖地一般在南、北纬40度之间的热带与亚热带海域，虽然有部分交配行为在冬季中至夏季中发生，但大多数在春季：在北半球，交配期可能自1月一直到7月，而以3至5月为高峰；南半球的抹香鲸交配期在8月与12月之间，集中在10月
抹香鲸的听觉相当灵敏，据说捕鲸时期的捕鲸者必须尽可能地保持安静，才能够接近在海面上休息的抹香鲸，即使是船桨敲击小船所造成的音量都可能会惊动鲸群。
成年雄鲸与雌鲸的分布情形有明显的不同，雌鲸通常栖息于水深1,000米以上、纬度40度以内的海域但在北太平洋可达北纬50度左右；雄鲸幼年时跟随母亲在热带海域生活，成长后会离群逐渐向较高纬度移动，体型越大、年龄越老的雄鲸，分布范围也越偏高纬度，甚至会接近两极浮冰地带。雌鲸与未成年抹香鲸群通常会停留于1,000公里宽的区域内至少10年，而成年雄鲸移动情形宽广的多。
18世纪之后，在尚未现代化的捕鲸时期，抹香鲸是极为重要的捕捉对象，一方面是因为它们有品质很好的鲸油与鲸脑油，另一方面也因为当时的船只以帆船为主，追不上大型须鲸，所以游速较慢且死后会浮在水上的抹香鲸与露脊鲸便成为捕鲸者的头号猎物。人们发现了抹香鲸脑袋里有着一种神奇的蜡状液体——鲸脑油。
鲸脑油经过人类的加工处理过后，变成了抹香鲸油和抹香鲸蜡，成了一种上好的照明用具。
就连美国的总统都说好，很快捕杀抹香鲸就成了一种工业生产。驾驶大船捕杀巨大的抹香鲸，在很多人眼中成了伟大的历险，但是事实上，却是血腥的屠杀。鲸的背部留下了被螺旋桨打伤的印记。
地球上，生活着大小不同、形态各异、难以计数的动物、植物、微生物。同样是动物或植物、微生物，有的具有相同的基因组，个体之间也能相互交配并产生正常的后代，这些具有相同基因组又能交配产生正常后代的生物就是一个物种。地球上的动物、植物、微生物都包含有多种多样的物种，这就叫物种多样性。 生物多样性是人类社会的生存和发展的基础，和人类所用的物质等有着密切的关系。我们所用的多种原料都全部来自于大自然，所以要维持生物多样性，人类的物资资源才会不断丰富，且人了的生活和物资质量也会不断提高。除外，生物多样性还会保持土壤肥沃，水质及调节气候等方面发挥了重要作用。 随着人类在地球上的活动，很多物种的生存受到了威胁，而物种种类的减少会导致生态失衡，威胁人类的生存。保护生物多样性对人类的可持续发展有着不可低估的作用。抹香鲸的精油的的确一种很不错的物资，不过这样的过度捕杀抹香鲸已经濒临灭绝了，已从一百多万条减少至几万条了。
【部分借鉴于百度,Google】
(注：下面的翻译来自Google Translate)
The deep and productive waters are the most important. The area where this sperm whale frequents was used to be called "base" by whalers in the past. Sperm whales are widely distributed in non-icing waters all over the world. They can be found from the equator to the poles. Due to the slow growth of sperm whales and the long-term care of their offspring, they need extremely long time after being killed in large numbers. Time will be possible to restore the original quantity. Female whales become sexually mature at about 9 years of age and only give birth every 4 to 6 years. Older female whales may have longer reproductive intervals. The pregnancy period is at least 1 year and may be as long as 18 months. Female whales breastfeed for at least 2 years,
Breeding sites are generally in tropical and subtropical waters between 40 degrees south and north latitudes. Although some mating behaviors occur in mid-winter to mid-summer, most of them occur in spring: in the northern hemisphere, the mating period may be from January to July. The peak is from March to May; the mating period of sperm whales in the southern hemisphere is between August and December, concentrated in October
Sperm whales have a very sensitive hearing. It is said that during the whaling period, whalers must be as quiet as possible to get close to the sperm whales resting on the sea. Even the sound of the oars striking the boat may disturb the whales.
The distribution of adult male whales and female whales are obviously different. Female whales usually live in waters above 1,000 meters and within 40 degrees latitude but can reach about 50 degrees north latitude in the North Pacific; male whales follow their mothers in tropical waters when they are young In life, after growing up, they will gradually move to higher latitudes. The larger and older male whales are, the higher the latitudes are, and they may even approach the polar ice floes. Female whales and juvenile sperm whales usually stay in an area 1,000 kilometers wide for at least 10 years, and adult male whales move more widely.
After the 18th century, in the unmodified whaling period, sperm whales were extremely important to capture, on the one hand because they had good quality whale oil and brain oil, and on the other hand, because the ships at that time were mainly sailboats. Can't catch up with large baleen whales, so sperm whales and right whales, which swim slowly and float on the water after death, become the number one prey of whalers. People have discovered that there is a magical waxy liquid in the head of sperm whales-whale brain oil.
After being processed by human beings, spermaceti is transformed into spermaceti oil and spermaceti wax, which becomes a kind of excellent lighting equipment.
Even the President of the United States said yes, and the killing of sperm whales soon became an industrial production. Driving a big ship to kill a huge sperm whale has become a great adventure in the eyes of many people, but in fact, it is a bloody slaughter. The back of the whale left marks of being injured by the propeller.
There are countless animals, plants, and microorganisms of different sizes and shapes on the earth. The same animals, plants, and microorganisms, some have the same genome, and individuals can mate with each other and produce normal offspring. These organisms that have the same genome and can mate to produce normal offspring are a species. Animals, plants, and microorganisms on the earth contain a variety of species, which is called species diversity. Biodiversity is the basis for the survival and development of human society, and it is closely related to the materials used by human beings. The many kinds of raw materials we use all come from nature. Therefore, to maintain biodiversity, human resources will continue to be enriched, and human life and the quality of materials will continue to improve. In addition, biodiversity also maintains fertility of the soil, and plays an important role in water quality and climate regulation. With human activities on the earth, the survival of many species is threatened, and the reduction of species types will cause ecological imbalance and threaten the survival of mankind. The protection of biodiversity plays an important role in the sustainable development of mankind. The essential oil of sperm whales is indeed a very good material, but such over-killing of sperm whales is on the verge of extinction, which has been reduced from more than one million to tens of thousands.
[Partly borrowed from Baidu and Google]