LIFE AT AND NEAR SURFACE 143 



The whales are the largest and the best 

 known of all marine giants, and oddly enough 

 these enormous creatures have descended from 

 land giants. At first sight one sees little or no 

 resemblance between whales and any form of 

 terrestrial animal, and indeed their form is 

 so fish-like and they are so strictly maritime 

 in their habits that many people consider them 

 fish. In their life-history, anatomy and many 

 other important points they are far more like 

 land animals than fish, however, and even a 

 few moments' study will prove how erroneous 

 and foolish it is to confuse these great crea- 

 tures with true fish. While fish breathe water, 

 from which the air is separated by means of 

 organs called gills, whales breathe air and 

 separate the life-giving oxygen from the other 

 gases by internal lungs like land animals. 

 Moreover, fishes are cold-blooded creatures, 

 whereas whales are warm, red-blooded ani- 

 mals, and in addition whales suckle their own 

 young like other mammals. Merely because 

 they live in the sea and propel themselves 

 about by their tails and flippers is no reason 

 for confusing them with fish, for seals, wal- 



