should be plentiful for years to 

 come. 



Whales — Many of the world's 

 whales, which once roamed all 

 oceans by the millions, are still 

 fairly common in Alaska's waters. 

 There are two kinds of whales, the 

 toothed whales and the "whalebone" 

 or baleen whales, which are tooth- 

 less. 



The blue whale, a toothless 

 species, is the largest mammal that 

 has ever lived. It frequents the 

 polar ice pack of both hemispheres 

 in summertime. These marine 

 mammoths grow to almost unbeliev- 

 able sizes, the females reaching 

 greater lengths than the males. 

 Three females taken in the Antarc- 

 tic measured 100 feet. Another blue 

 whale measured 89 feet, and 

 weighed nearly 120 tons. How 

 much such a behemoth can eat is a 

 matter of speculation as just an 

 ordinary-sized whale can eat a ton 

 of sardines for its morning meal. 



Another toothless species, the 

 bowhead or arctic whale is a stable 

 item for Sea Eskimos from St. Law- 

 rence to Point Barrow. (Every 

 part of the whale is used, even the 

 jawbone which acts as a grave- 

 marker) . The bowhead is recover- 

 ing from decimation by whalers, 

 and there are appreciable numbers 

 in the North Bering Sea and the 

 adjacent Arctic Ocean. 



Largest of the toothed whales is 

 the sperm whale. Uniformly gray, 

 or dark bluish gray, it is one of the 

 most widely distributed of all the 

 whales. Old males summer in 

 Bering Sea, while cows and calves 

 stay in tropical waters. 



Killer whales, a toothed species, 



travel in packs and prey on all 

 warm-blooded sea animals, which 

 are terrorized by them. Hair seals, 

 for instance, will leave open water 

 and swim frantically toward the 

 beach at the approach of a pack of 

 killers. 



These four species are only a few 

 of the whales that visit Alaskan 

 waters. Whales are usually more 

 than 30 feet long — exceptions are 

 the pygmy sperm whale, the Beluga, 

 the dolphins, and the porpoises. 



You can learn to tell the kind of 

 whale by its spout : a slanting for- 

 ward spout means that a sperm has 

 surfaced; a short, broad, straight 

 spout denotes a humpback ; a high, 

 slender one is the sign of a finback. 



Incidentally, a whale doesn't 

 spout water. Upon surfacing from 

 a deep dive, it exhales violently, 

 and the warm moisture-laden 

 breath condenses. This condensa- 

 tion can be seen for several miles, 

 and can be heard a mile away on 

 calm days. Spouts in Alaska 

 waters will hold together as a cloud 

 for several minutes in cold air. 



World War II temporarily in- 

 creased the chances of whales sur- 

 viving, since little whaling was 

 done. So for the time being there 

 is still a chance to see a whale spout. 



BIRDS 



^1 



MIGRATORY WATERFOWL 



Alaska plays an important part 

 in maintaining the continental sup- 

 ply of migratory waterfowl. Vast 



