The Somerset reporter., 1889-12-12
FACTS ABOUT WHALES.
VERY LITTLE KNOWN CONCERNING
THIS LARGE ANIMAL.

Several OF the Popular Fallacies Exploded
by Gentleman Who Has Made the
Subject His Speciality for Five Years.
Romance of Thrilling Adventure.
or all the modern scientists engaged
in the work of investigation, perhaps
none have adopted field more peculiar
and entertaining than Professor Fred
erick W. True, of the National museum,
Professor True is young man. but he
has already spent five years of his career
as scientist in looking up one subject
whales.
"Only about eighteen species of the
fifty-six that frequent the coast Of North
America are well known, and the ma
jority OF these Of forms which have long
been under observation. The number Of.
species whose habits. variations and dis
tribution nre thoroughly understood is
still smaller, The life OF the whale is
passed with but little OF it being visible,
and 1t is not an approachable animal
What ia known OF its life has been OBJ
tanned at long range. and many errors
have thereby crcpt in. All the romance
about thrilling adventures in the capture
Of the hale have had their day. II is
still regarded as dangerous occupation.
but nothing like what it was In the past.
You will hear no more stories Of hanu
happening and the smoking line run
ming ont over the bow, the boat towed
by leviathan at lightning speed, and all
those details that illuminated the old
time stories Of the sea. Now whales are
killed with bomb lance, fired as any
other projectile, at a moderately long
range. 1t carries an explosive substance
that detonates when the lance enters the
way. The whale is generally harpooned
afterward in order to make it fast, and
unless this is attempted before the whale
is dead it is not attended with any danger.
What are some OF the popular falla-
cies in regard to whales"
"In the first place the greatest OF them
all is that the whale is fish. 1t is a
mammal with none Of the characteristics
of fish, except that it exists in the wa
ter. An animal that nurses its young
AMI has rudimentary hind legs could
hardly correspond to a fish in any re-
sr-c Ct In almost every cut OF whale
you will see the animal spouting ire
nicndous volume OF water from its blow
holes This is purely an imaginary habit
on the part Of the whales. The blow
holes Of the whale correspond to the
nostrils Of other animals. When it comes
to tho surface to breathe itexpels the air
from its lungs with violent effort Its
nostrils are apt to be slightly under wa
ter, and the result is column OF spray
rises in the air. This has been mistaken
in the distance by sailors for n column Of
water. When a whale had been har
pooned so that its lungs had been pene-
trated it is likely that the whale spouted
blood and water through its nostrils, and
this has confirmed the original error
when the sailors observed it at close
range.
"Another popular error" continued
Professor True, sis that all whales fur
nish whalebone. The two great classifi-
cations among whales are the toothed
and the whalebone varieties. The sperm
whale is toothed whale, and the right
bone in a good sized whale is worth sew
eral hundreds of dollars. The toothed
whales really have not much use for
their teeth, as they cannot chew any
thing with them. They are merely q
row OF points that serve to grasp a fish
or other kind OF prey, and hold 1t until
it can work it down Its throat. The
teeth are only on the lower jaw. There
arr. *, is.eia ~ among tho teeth and thev
cannot grind the food. Then the jaw is
not hung so that it can do anything more
than snap. The whalebone whale uses
the fringe of whalebone around the up
per jaw in lieu of teeth. 1t strikes a
school of shelfsh which abound in great |
numbers In the sea, and when it gets |
them in its mouth it closes its jaws. The
water is squeezed out and the whale
swallows everything that is left"
"I1ave any species been exterminatedT
From what we know it is not prob |
able For few years the right whale |
totally from the North |
American coast None were stranded. |
and there was no evidence that any more |
wero in existence. 4 year or two ago |
one or two specimens were seen and nov !
they are reasonably plentiful again
they disappeared because they |
were pursued by man or for some other |
reason we cannot establish. That they |
totally disappeared, however, is conclu
sive. The fact is. that when a certain |
kind of whale becomes SO scarce as to bt |
in danger of determination it then be
comes improbable to chase it, and the
for renewal of the breed |
is favorable"
"Do they breed rapidly"
lone or two at birth is the rule The |
smaller varieties generally bear twins. |
and single one at birth is probably |
the case with the greater varieties. The
infants are born pretty well able TO take
care of themselves, though they are care
fully nursed by tho mother until they are
swift enough to provide themselves with
food. 1t is the belief that the mother,
ioats on her side on the top Of the water
when nursing, so that the young can
sucklc with their bowholes out of water
this Is true or not do not |
know"
"Do whales ever sleep?"
"That is one Of tho many things that |
we do not know. Sperm whales have
been known to lie on the water motion |
less for considerable period, but it can
only be guessed whether they are asleep |
IL not. A whale could not sleep under |
water for any length OF time. It has
capacity for storing great deal Of air in |
he blood vessels that fill the neck and |
are found well down through the body; |
out at the furthest this could not last |
more than half hour, when it would |
nave to come to the surface to blow. 1t |
$ assumed that many of the lower forms
IF life never sleep, but in the case of the
whale do not know that that point has
aver been investigated" - Washington
Post.