ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE AND RESEARCH 



Nations in 1925 gave his opinion that there were not 

 more than twelve thousand whales surviving. 



Luckily the world does not now ignore the destruc- 

 tion of a valuable international asset. The fees ac- 

 cumulating from the whaling licenses in the Falklands 

 region have been in part devoted to carrying out re- 

 search as to the environment, migrations, and food of 

 the whales. We owe to A. C. Hardy a valuable account 

 of the scientific work being carried out on the research 

 ship "Discovery." ' This boat is the same which was 

 built for Scott's first expedition and is now (1929-30) 

 on loan to the Australian Government for Mawson's 

 new expedition to the Enderby region. 



The whales taken south of the Falkland Islands, 

 apart from the right and sperm whales which are only 

 occasionally met with, belong to three species. These 

 are, as stated above, the two large rorquals, the blue 

 and fin whales, and the humpback whale. These are 

 all toothless whales, and therefore they feed on surface 

 organisms or plankton. These w^hales separate the 

 small shrimps from the water by means of the sieving 

 apparatus of baleen plates in the mouth. The destruc- 

 tion of whales was particularly rapid during the War, 

 for the whale oil was of great importance as a source 

 of glycerine ; and in the 191 5-16 season eleven thousand 

 seven hundred and ninety-two w^hales were killed. 



In October, 1925, the research ship "Discovery" 

 sailed with Dr. Kemp as director of research to carry 

 out a study of the environment of the whale. Re- 



2 A. C. Hardy, "Work of Royal Research Ship Discovery," 

 Geographical Journal^ (London), September, 1928. 



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