. St. Nicholas [serial]. A DROVE OF ORCAS ATTACKING A BOW-HEAD WHALE. jgcM. NATURE AND SCIENCE FOR YOUNG FOLKS. 459 tively small as whales, are so rapacious, active,and strong-jawed that no other animals, eventhe fiercest of man-eater sharks and the largestof whales, can withstand their awful objects of their assaults are the tooth-less whales, and some of the bloodiest fightsoccur when mother whales are attacked whileguarding their young. The orcas hunt insmall droves, and are veritable ocean wolves,surrounding their prey, tearing great pieces fromthe lips and throat and b
. St. Nicholas [serial]. A DROVE OF ORCAS ATTACKING A BOW-HEAD WHALE. jgcM. NATURE AND SCIENCE FOR YOUNG FOLKS. 459 tively small as whales, are so rapacious, active,and strong-jawed that no other animals, eventhe fiercest of man-eater sharks and the largestof whales, can withstand their awful objects of their assaults are the tooth-less whales, and some of the bloodiest fightsoccur when mother whales are attacked whileguarding their young. The orcas hunt insmall droves, and are veritable ocean wolves,surrounding their prey, tearing great pieces fromthe lips and throat and biting out the tongue, thewhales drowning, or dying from loss of blood. Hugh M. to the Rocky Mountains measured as much astwenty feet, the width of an average city lot,across their wings. Most of us have seen aneagle flying, and we can appreciate the size ofthis ancient dragon by remembering that itwas nearly three times the size of an eagle. Itwas not, however, three times as heavy, forthe body of this strange reptile was so smalland its skeleton so wonderfully light that theentire animal is thought to have weighed notmore than twenty-five pounds, or only aboutas much as a large condor. One of the largestbones of the wing, two feet long and two inchesthrough, was, as Professor Williston tells us,no thicker than a sheet of blotting-paper, andthe great head, with a beak over three feet long,was equally light. This great toothlessbeak is believed to have been usedfor snapping up fishes;and we can imaginethis huge crea- - . THE ORNITHOSTOMA — THE LARGEST FLYING CREATURE. THE LARGEST FLYING CREATURE. We are apt to think of reptiles as creepingand crawling things, f
Size: 2557px × 977px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
