Animal life in the sea and on the land . with their life in theboundless ocean, must remain in doubt. They are said,however, to select mates, and to be strongly attached tothem and to their young, and whalers tell us that themother often swims or floats upon the rolling wavesholding one flipper tenderly over the back of her calf. 6. The Greenland Whale valuable for its Oil.—The Green-land whale, which lives in the Arctic seas, is the one soughtby whalers for its oil; hence it has received the name of right whale. The blubber, from which the oil is ob-tained, is a layer of fat connected with th
Animal life in the sea and on the land . with their life in theboundless ocean, must remain in doubt. They are said,however, to select mates, and to be strongly attached tothem and to their young, and whalers tell us that themother often swims or floats upon the rolling wavesholding one flipper tenderly over the back of her calf. 6. The Greenland Whale valuable for its Oil.—The Green-land whale, which lives in the Arctic seas, is the one soughtby whalers for its oil; hence it has received the name of right whale. The blubber, from which the oil is ob-tained, is a layer of fat connected with the skin, and cov-ering the animal, in some instances, to the depth of twofeet. This thick layer of blubber serves a double pur-pose, and gives buoyancy to the massive body of thewhales at the same time that it protects them from theextreme cold of the icy waters. 7. Whalebone. — The whalebone of commerce is alsotaken from the right whale. This valuable article growsin broad plates (Fig. 239) which hang from the roof of the WHALES. U7. —Greenland Whale. mouth, and there are sometimes as many as three hundredof these whalebone plates suspended side by side. Theouter edge of the plates is smooth and unbroken, but theinner edge, towards the middle of the mouth, is fringedwith frayed-out whalebone fibres, so that the roof of themouth has the appearance of being covered with coarse 348 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE SEA AND ON THE LAND. hairs. The brush - like ends of the plates extend below the under jaw when the mouth is opened, and make an excellent strainer for collecting food. 8. The Food of the Whale.—The right whale has no teeth, and the opening of its throat is too small to admit of swallowing even a herring ofordinary size. Its food, there-fore, consists of jelly-fishes,ctenophora, mollusks, andother small animals which livetogether in great shoals inthe Arctic seas. While feed-ing, the whale swims throughthese shoals with its mouthstanding wide open; a streamof water constantly
Size: 1722px × 1451px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1887
