NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



(Balcena australis). In former days these whales, at 

 certain seasons, came into Algoa Bay to give birth to 

 their young, and a whaling industry flourished there. 

 This skeleton is not only highly valuable as a 

 specimen of probably one of the largest of its kind, 

 but it is of considerable local interest and value, 

 representing for all time to the citizens the former 

 existence of a whaling industry connected with 

 Port Elizabeth, and the fact that at one time 

 the Bay was a favourite resort of monster whales 

 nearly 70 feet in length The skeleton in the 

 museum is exactly 61 feet long, and the Whale in 

 the flesh must have been about 70 feet in length. 

 The Whalebone Whale is hunted for its blubber 

 and whalebone. The whalebone or baleen does not 

 appear until after birth. The length and breadth 

 of the plates differs- in the various species. The 

 baleen of the huge Right Whale for instance, is 

 broad and long; while that of the Hump-backed 

 Whales is comparatively small. In colour the 

 baleen varies from black to creamy-white, or it 

 may be striped. In the Whalebone Whales the 

 female is usually much larger than the male. 



THE SOUTHERN BLACK RIGHT WHALE 



(Baleena australis) 



THIS great Cetacean, which attains a length of 



about 70 feet, was formerly quite common in the 



208 



