352 



WHALES 



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Figure igj. Cross-section through the penis of a camel, a horse, and a Beluga to show the 



similarity in structure between the camel and the Beluga. The horse has a much thinner 



. sheath of connective tissue and its large corpus cavernosum penis consists mainly of blood 



vessels, while that of the other two animals consists mainly of cotmective tissue. 



copulate with astonishing rapidity, and that the whole process lasts no 

 more than a few seconds, while horses take minutes, and Carnivores 

 anything from fifteen minutes upwards. Bears often copulate for forty-five 

 minutes and martens for more than an hour. 



However, while it seems likely that whales copulate like even-toed 

 ungulates, it is extremely difficult to test this hypothesis. First, it is 

 difficult to observe the mating habits of aquatic animals (particularly if 

 the action is as short as we believe it to be), and secondly. Rorquals, at 

 least, mate mainly in tropical waters, where whalers are few and far 

 between. Even so, we have countless reports on this subject - the first 

 dating back to more than loo years ago. After some introductory love 

 play, whales are said to dive, to swim towards each other at great speed, 

 then to surface vertically and to copulate belly to belly. In so doing, their 

 entire thorax, and often part of their abdomen, as well, are said to protrude 

 out of the water. They then drop back into the sea, with a resounding slap, 

 that can often be heard far away. The authenticity of all the many 

 reports is vouched for by the drawings of one such observation which 

 Nishiwaki and Hayashi published in 1951 (Fig. 194). They saw one and 

 the same pair of Humpbacks repeating the action a number of times 

 within the space of three hours. Similar observations were also made in 

 1947 by the crew of one of the catchers of the Willem Barendsz, by Capt. 



