| Show Young Whale Needs About One Jonah a Day Duy for Food Interesting Facts About the A JONAH a day doy would be just about right for a ayoung ayoung ayoung young and rapidly growing firmer finner whale That is sit supposing sup posing the finner sinner whale coin could h swallow the prophet prophet whit which he But Dut anyhow a whale of this kind which are arc the ones most hunted for oil nowadays increases in to size by the equivalent of a bigman's big bigman's bIgman's mans man's weight every day during during dur dur- i ing ng his period of most rapid rapt growth This It Is among the host hot of fascinating fas fu- whale facts amassed inmany in inmany many voyages to both bOUl of ot the earths earth s frozen ends end by bl Prof Prot Johan HJort seagoing scientist of the University valves city sity of Oslo Firmer Finer whales mate male in early autumn autumn au au- au- au and their young are calved In n May The prenatal period is Ii only a little lItIle longer lon than mans Th The Tha e whale baby babl feeds on its mother mothers milk from May until December when It is I. weaned Adolescence lasts lut from then until about the tha be be- beginning ginning of the following August Thus Thul In two years the blue whale passes pallu from infancy to adulthood although of course It continues continue to Increase in size Ilze for tor a long time after maturity is reached Their growth naturally goes on at ata a tremendous rate In a single day da during the period of most rapid In Increase crease In size Ilze the young youn whale puts on every day dal the weight of a full grown irown man A reaU really large lar Sinner finner whale will weigh as much as 1500 men real men real men he-men too the tho size of the thick Viking whaler captains captain who pursue them Cruising at ten knots knott Professor Hjort has calculated they must mut put forth an effort equivalent to 47 horsepower The Tho Norse None biologist added that he ho has haa been on ships pursuing such ucb whales a at t a speed of fourteen knots and and not catching them The oily blubber chief prize In whaling performs a vel very important b biological function for the tho whales whale Its It ItIs Is Js s to these huge sea lea mammals what whet the hump Is II to a camel camel camel-a a reservoir reser reset voir of food energy stored up in times time 0 of abundance to be drawn upon In seasons of scarcity Because Be De- Because cause of the tremendous qua quantitative nUt aUve a- a live tive fluctuations In the various forms of sea ea life lite on which whales whale feed th they 1 must often go iO for long periods without feeding and often cruise for hundreds hundred of miles without so 0 much as a herring or a shrimp to eat eatA A second function of the blubber Is I. protection from the cold Fat is II isan nn an excellent non conductor of heat so to that a whale well wrapped up In his hI subcutaneous layer of blubber ber her can live for weeks and months In polar polor water at a temperature near or below freezing Whalebone formerly next In Importance Importance Im inn parlance only to oil In the whaling Industry Is It now an object of no value |
