6 Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
drove of “ killers ” there is always one thresher, 
sometimes two. 
The “ killer ” is actually a whale, for he is 
warm-blooded and rises to the surface to spout, 
which he does in a manner that has often led to 
his being mistaken for a humpback, or finback 
whale. He is distinguishable only from the 
grampus by his mouth, which has teeth—and 
terrible teeth—in both jaws : the grampus has 
teeth in his lower jaw only. When he (the 
grampus) is a baby he has teeth in both jaws, 
but those of the upper jaw are shed and fall out 
when he is about half grown. The killer has 
teeth in both jaws, as many a poor humpback 
and finback has found out to his cost, for the 
fierce creature does justice to his name —Orca 
Gladiator. 
The killers have a business, and they never 
neglect it. It is the business of whale catching 
and killing. They are the bull-dog pirates of 
the deep sea, and on the coast of Australia their 
headquarters are at Twofold Bay. Sometimes, 
but not often, they have been known to attack 
the monarch of the ocean, the sperm whale. 
But they generally leave him alone. He is too 
big, too powerful, and his great eight-inch teeth 
