. Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammals; Animal behavior. THE WHALES. connected with them. They are all gregarious, some of them collecting in very large shoals and roam- ing about the sea together for days and weeks. Their liveliness, playfulness and lack of shyness have earned them the friendship of sailors and poets from the most remote ages. Nearly all Dolphins swim with remarkable speed and agility, and are therefore highly adapted for catching fish, and among their numbers are some of the most formidable and
. Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammals; Animal behavior. THE WHALES. connected with them. They are all gregarious, some of them collecting in very large shoals and roam- ing about the sea together for days and weeks. Their liveliness, playfulness and lack of shyness have earned them the friendship of sailors and poets from the most remote ages. Nearly all Dolphins swim with remarkable speed and agility, and are therefore highly adapted for catching fish, and among their numbers are some of the most formidable and predaceous beasts of the ocean. Some species even dare attack the largest of Whalebone Whales, and often conquer them by dint of perseverance. The food of the Dolphins consists principally of cephalopods, mollusks, crustaceans and minute sea organisms, but some are also said to consume sea-weeds and even fruits of trees, pluck- ing the latter from the branches that hang over the water. They are all voracious, greedy and cruel, consuming every eatable thing which they can pro- cure and not even disdaining the young of their own are eaten; the skin and intestines are utilized, and the blubber yields a very fine oil, which is in great request. THE GRAMPUS. Among the numerous species, of which this family consists, the Grampus or Killer Whale, known from the earliest ages and notorious for its voracity, de- serves to be mentioned first. It represents a genus of the same name (Orca). The most prominent fea- ture is the exceedingly long, erect dorsal fin. The body is stout, the head short, the forehead sloping, the snout rather broad and the teeth are few in num- ber, but very strong. Characteristics and The Grampus or Killer Whale {Orca Range of the gladiator) may sometimes attain a Grampus. length of thirty feet, but averages a smaller size, usually from thirteen to twenty feet. The color seems to be very variable. A more or less deep black extends over the greater part of the. THE
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectmammals, bookyear1895
