THE WOLF OF THE SEA 



York Aquarium, tells of an interesting experience on 

 the Pribilof Islands, which illustrates the terror in 

 which the killers are held by other water mammals. 

 He was collecting a number of the great Steller's sea 

 lions for the Smithsonian Institution and was shoot- 

 ing the animals, which were on land, with a repeating 

 rifle. 



The sea lions began rushing toward the water in 

 terror when suddenly the high dorsal fin of a killer 

 whale appeared a few fathoms offshore. The sea lions 

 stopped short and could not be forced into the water, 

 preferring to face the unknown danger of the rifle 

 rather than certain death in the jaws of an enemy 

 which from earliest babyhood they had been taught 

 to fear. 



The killer belongs to the dolphin family, of which it 

 is the largest member, reaching a length of from 

 twenty to thirty feet. These animals are found in al- 

 most every ocean of the world and, although several 

 species have been described, probably there is but one, 

 Orca orca. The dorsal fin of the male is six "feet 

 high while that of the female is but three and one- 

 half or four feet, and this has led to the naming of 

 specimens which have proved to be only the male and 

 female of the same species. 



Killers will apparently eat anything that swims and 

 fish, birds, seals, walrus, whales, and porpoises are all 

 equally acceptable. Their capacity is almost unbeliev- 

 able, and there is a record of thirteen porpoises and 

 fourteen seals being taken from the stomach of a 

 twenty-one-foot specimen. 



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