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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



mouth. The ends of the flippers are sometimes 

 used to help convey food to the mouth, Hke 

 huge hands in thumbless mittens. 



When suckHng her young the manati rises 

 to the surface, her head and shoulders out of 

 the water, and with her flippers holds the 

 nursling partly clasped to her breast. This 

 semi-human attitude, together with the rounded 

 head and fishlike tail, may have furnished the 

 basis on which the ancients built their legends 

 of the mermaids. 



KILLER WHALE (Orcinus orca) 



The killer whale is a habitant of all oceans 

 from the border of the Arctic ice fields to the 

 stormy glacial margin of the Antarctic conti- 

 nent. So far as definitely known, there appears 

 to be but a single species. It attains an ex- 

 treme length of approximately 30 feet and is 

 mainly black with well-defined white areas on 

 the sides and underparts of the body. Its 

 most striking and picturesque characteristic is 

 the large black fin, several feet long, standing- 

 upright on the middle of the back. 



The killer usually travels and hunts in 

 "schools" or packs of from three to a dozen 

 or more individuals. Unlike most whales, the 

 members of these schools do not travel in a 

 straggling party, but swim side by side, their 

 movements as regularly timed as those of sol- 

 diers. A regularly spaced row of advancing 

 long black fins swiftly cutting the undulating 

 surface of the sea produces a singularly sinister 

 effect. The evil impression is well justified, 

 since killers are the most savage and remorse- 

 less of whales. The jaws are armed with 

 rows of effective teeth, with which the animals 

 attack and devour seals and porpoises, and 

 even destroy some of the larger whales. 



Killers are like giant wolves of the sea, and 

 their ferocity strikes terror to the other warm- 

 blooded inhabitants of the deep. The Eskimos 

 of the Alaskan coast of Bering Sea consider 

 killers as actual wolves in sea form. They be- 

 lieve that in the early days, when the world 

 was young and men and animals could change 

 their forms at will, land wolves often went to 

 the edge of the shore ice and changed to killer 

 whales, and the killers returned to the edge of 

 the ice and climbed out as wolves, to go raven- 

 ing over the land. Some of the natives assured 

 me that even today certain wolves and killers 

 are still endowed with this power and, on ac- 

 count of their malignant character, are much 

 feared by hunters. 



Killers are known to swallow small seals and 

 porpoises entire and attack large whales by 

 tearing away their fleshy lips and tongues. 

 When attacking large prey they work in packs, 

 with all the unity and fierceness of so many 

 wolves. The natives of the Aleutian Islands 

 told me that large skin boats are sometimes 

 lost in the passes between the islands by sea- 

 lions leaping upon them in their frenzied ef- 

 forts to escape the pursuit of killer whales. 



The killers are specially detrimental to the 

 fur-seal industry, owing to their habit of prey- 



ing upon seals during their migrations in the 

 North Pacific and during the summer in Bering- 

 Sea. They also haunt the waters about the 

 Fur Seal Islands to continue their depredations 

 during the summer. It would be a wise con- 

 servation measure for the Federal Government 

 to have these destructive beasts persistently 

 hunted and destroyed each spring and summer 

 when they congregate on the north side of the 

 Aleutian passes. Their destruction would not 

 cinly save large numbers of fur seals, but would 

 undoubtedly protect the few sea otters still re- 

 maining in those waters. 



WHITE WHALE, OR BELUGA 

 (Delphinapterus leucas) 



The white whale, or beluga of the Russians, 

 is a circumpolar species, limited to the ex- 

 treme northern coasts of the Old and the 

 New Worlds. The adult is entirely of a milk- 

 white color, is very conspicuous, and as it 

 comes up to "blow" presents an interesting 

 sight. The young beluga is dark slate color, 

 becoming gradually paler for several years 

 until it attains its growth. The beluga usually 

 lives in the shallow waters along shore, and 

 not only frequents sheltered bays and tidal 

 streams, but ascends rivers for considerable 

 distances. Plentiful along the coast of Alaska. 

 esnecially in Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, 

 this whale also ascends the Yukon for a long 

 distance. It also comes down the Atlantic 

 coast and enters the lower St. Lawrence River. 



The white whale is said at times to attain a 

 length of 20 feet, but its ordinary length is 

 nearer to or 12 feet. It travels in irregular 

 "schools" of from three to ten or fifteen indi- 

 viduals and usually rolls high out of water 

 when it comes up to breathe. It enters shel- 

 tered bays and the lower courses of streams, 

 mainly at night, in pursuit of fish, which_ fur- 

 nish its main food supply. During the twilight 

 hours of the Arctic sumn-ier night,_ glowing 

 with beautiful colors, the ghostly white forms 

 of these whales breaking the smooth blue-black 

 surface of a far northern bay add the crown- 

 ing efifect of strange unworldly mystery to the 

 scene. 



When on hunting trips in early autumn, I 

 camped many times on the banks of narrow 

 tide channels leading throu.gh the coastal tun- 

 dra, and for hours during the darkness of 

 night, as the tide was rising, heard the deep- 

 sighing sound of their blowing, as schools of 

 belugas fished up and down the current, often 

 only 15 or 20 feet from where I lay. 



'The oil and flesh of the white whale is highly 

 prized by the Eskimos, and they not only pur- 

 sue it in kyaks with harpoon and float, but set 

 large-meshed nets of strong seal-skin cords 

 off projecting points near entrances to bays. 

 Young or medium-sized animals are often 

 caught in this manner, but powerful adults 

 often tear the nets to fragments. 



The beluga frequents broken pack ice along 

 shore, and one trapped alive by the closing ice 

 north of the Yukon early one winter was re- 



