THE GREENLAND WHALE. 



{Balaena mysticetus. ) 



The whale is by far the largest animal 

 on earth, some species being many times 

 the size of an elephant, and is it not 

 a curious fact that in appearance it so 

 resembles a fish that many suppose it 

 to belong?- to that class, while truly it is 

 not a fish at all? It is in reality much 

 more like a cow or a horse, although 

 externally it seems very unlike these ani- 

 mals ; but appearances are not always to 

 be relied upon. 



When we examine the construction of 

 the whale wx find that it is warm-blooded, 

 as we are. We find that it has immense 

 lungs which hold a great quantity of 

 air and that it must fill them or die. We 

 find that it has bones similar to those of 

 land animals. It has the seven neck 

 bones found in all mammals, but it is 

 the opposite extreme from the girafife, 

 as in proportion to its size it has the 

 shortest neck of any mammal, while the 

 giraffe has the longest. It has ribs, also 

 bones for the forearm, and, nearly obli- 

 terated, there are found bones represent- 

 ing the hind legs. Instead of being 

 hatched from an egg, as most fishes are, 

 a baby wdiale comes into the world alive 

 and complete, and for many months it 

 takes its mother's milk as a calf might do 

 or a young colt. A baby whale is indeed 

 a monstrous infant, being sometimes 

 ten or twelve or even fifteeen feet long ; 

 but by its mother's side it does not seem 

 such a monstrosity, for the whale mother 

 may be forty-five or fifty feet in length 

 herself. 



These great animals are a most inter- 

 esting study, for their ancestors undoubt- 

 edly once lived on land. We can imas:- 

 ine the land animal, many centuries ago, 

 dwelling on the banks of some large 

 stream, fond of spending much time in 

 the water, until with successive genera- 

 tions the shape of the animal gradually 

 changed and adapted itself to its fluid 

 surroundings. The forearms and hands 



gradually became covered with continu- 

 ous skin until the arm and hand became 

 a flipper; the rear limbs grew shorter 

 and shorter as they were used less and 

 less, until finally there was nothing left 

 to indicate their presence except a few 

 small bones. The tail, used as a pro- 

 peller, grew strong, large and flat, and 

 we can imagine that the animals them- 

 selves, as they put out to sea and in time 

 avoided even the rivers, became larger 

 as the centuries passed by. 



However this may be, the Greenland 

 Whale has been found sixty feet in 

 length, although some other species are 

 smaller, 



I think w^e can consider the whale an 

 animal of a roving disposition. In early 

 times it roved away from land, and now 

 it belongs to the migratory animals, 

 changing its locality with the seasons. 

 The Greenland Whale is happiest with 

 cold and ice, so when summer comes it 

 travels north in great numbers. These 

 great groups are called schools, and be- 

 ing of a social disposition, it is seldom 

 found alone when traveling. At first 

 thought it would seem strange that a 

 warm-blooded animal with no fur to pro- 

 tect it could so enjoy the cold, but should 

 we examine beneath the soft, velvety 

 skin we would find a great layer of fat, 

 from ten to eighteen inches thick. This 

 protects the animal from cold like a great 

 soft overcoat, and the polar sea has for it 

 no terrors. 



Of the peculiar make-up of the Green- 

 land Whale the head is certainly the most 

 peculiar of all the parts. 



It is a great, shapeless mass about a 

 third of the length of the entire animal. 

 It seems to be out of all proportion until 

 one realizes that it must provide food for 

 this great creature, which is no small 

 task. Like all of the whalebone whales, 

 the Greenland Whale has no teeth, but 

 in the mouth is found a great number of 



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