142 THE OCEAN 



tures, and in those cold and dreary oceans are 

 found some of the most remarkable and in- 

 teresting forms of all sea animals and among 

 them are the largest animals that we know of 

 in the world. 



Giants are always interesting, whether they 

 are human, animal or vegetable, and while in 

 past ages nearly all divisions of the animal 

 kingdom boasted of giants of far greater size 

 than those of the present day, yet even now 

 gigantic creatures exist in numbers in the sea. 

 On land the giant animals of prehistoric times 

 were mostly stupid, slothful creatures incapa- 

 ble of self-defence and without brains enough 

 to protect their own eggs or young, and they 

 rapidly succumbed to more active and intel- 

 ligent creatures until all but a few representa- 

 tives, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, etc., 

 were exterminated. In the seas, however, the 

 great creatures were less liable to destruction, 

 and while many of these were exterminated, 

 others, such as the sharks and whales, survived, 

 and to-day some of these reach almost as gi- 

 gantic dimensions as their ancestors of pre- 

 historic times. 



