Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lesson six of Within the Deep by R. Cadwalad Smith.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain lesson six
The Whale. Now and again whales are washed up on
our coast, and then we can see how huge is
this strange monster of the deep. It is by far
(00:21):
the largest of all living animals. Once on land, it
is quite helpless. It cannot regain its home in the waters,
and slowly dies. It is shaped like a fish, and
its home is in the sea, so no wonder it
has often been called a fish. If by chance the
whale is held under water, it drowns. It has no
(00:43):
gills like those of the fish to take air from
the water. It is a mammal, a creature that must
breathe the free air, just like other mammals. Nature is
full of surprises, and here she surprises us with a
mammal most marvelously fitted till live a fish like life.
The whale dives to great depths in search of food,
(01:05):
and stays under water for a long time. But it
is forced to rise again and breathe at the surface.
To do this, it need not put its head and
mouth out of water, for its nostril is at the
top of the head. As the whale forces used up
air from its nostril or blowhole as it is called,
(01:25):
it mixes with water. This causes a jet or spout
of water to rise some distance into the air. The
blowhole is closed by a stopper or valve, opening to
let the air in or out, but closing to shut
out the water. Some of the whale family are enormous,
and some are small. A large sperm whale may grow
(01:47):
to be ninety feet long, and its weight would be
nearly two hundred tons. This huge creature would look like
a deep barge in the water. These sperm whales love
to swim in herds or skulls. As many us three
hundred have been seen in one school old bulls and
cows and their young ones swimming together far out at sea.
(02:10):
It has been noticed that they all spout or breathe
at the same time and then dive to great depths.
The old ones seem to know that their babies cannot
stay under water as long as a full grown whale can,
and they all rise at the same time. These youngsters
may be nearly thirty feet long, but they gamble like
(02:31):
so many kittens, twisting and turning over and over and
throwing themselves into the air. Most whales are happy creatures,
enjoying their roving life in the free ocean. You can
well imagine that a whale as big as a barge
needs huge dinners. We should not be far wrong if
we guess that he would need about a ton of
(02:53):
food every day. Where is he to get all that food?
It is said that he feeds mostly on the cuddle fish,
that giant cousin of the octopus who haunts the dim
caverns of the deep. The sperm is of enormous strength
and is as fierce as he is strong, Otherwise he
would not dare to face the awful clinging arms of
(03:14):
the cuddle that ogre of the deep sea. The sperm
whale has a great, blunt head, a huge mouth, and
a throat large enough to swallow a man. His clumsy
looking head contains oil, so does the deep layer of
blubber with which his body is covered. For the sake
of this oil, the sperm has always been hunted, but
(03:37):
he is not easily overcome. He fights hard for life,
and many a whaling boat has been dashed to pieces
with one blow from the powerful tail of a hunted sperm.
This great tail is set crosswise, not upright, like the
tail of a fish. It is of immense power and
divided into two big flukes, as they are called. With
(04:00):
strong up and down strokes, the tail propels the monster
along at a great pace. It also shoots him down
to his feeding place in the depths of the sea,
and up again to fill his lungs with sweet fresh air.
The fins or paddles are used only as balancers and
to protect the young. These sperm whales inhabit warm seas,
(04:22):
but others of the well family haunt colder regions. The
greatest of these is the right whale or greenland whale,
a monster whose bulk rivals that of the sperm. Now
it is very strange that this, the largest member of
the whole kingdom of animals, should live on some of
the smallest creatures of the sea, and that the mouth
(04:44):
and throat of this monster should be so made that
he can eat only this minute food, food like that
which the tiny herring eats. In some parts of those
cold northern seas, the water is colored in bands of
red and blue. If you took a a bucketful, you
would find that the color was due to the myriads
of tiny creatures. Amongst these are other myriads of small animals,
(05:09):
each of less size than a housefly. The larger ones
are there to feed on the smaller ones, and the
mass of the small life is the food of this
mountain of fat and flesh. The greenland whale. He swims
through the sea with his mouth gaping open like a
great cavern, and soon thousands of the little creatures are inside.
(05:31):
Then his tongue comes forward. It is of immense size,
and it pushes out all the sea water from his mouth.
But the small animals remain inside, for the water is
forced through a wonderful sieve made of fringed plates, which
hangs from his upper jaw. Instead of having teeth in
his mouth, as many whales have, the greenland whale has
(05:52):
this sieve of whalebone. Of course, it is a large
sieve to fill so large a mouth, yet it is
never in the way, being neatly packed away at the
top of the mouth, one plate over the other when
not in use. The mass of small animals held back
by this peculiar sieve then slides down his throat, which
(06:15):
is a tube about as white as a boy's wrist.
We said just now that nature was full of surprises.
Is it not surprising to find a gigantic whale feeding
in this way? Inside the great mouth, the remorra or
sucking fish is often found. This fish has an oval
sucker on its head by which it fixes itself to
(06:37):
whales or even to the hull of a ship. It
has fens and can swim perfectly well, but prefers to
live in this lazy way. The whalebone whales lead a peaceful,
happy life, though not without dangers. The bitter cold of
their northern home is nothing to them, for are they
not snug in a deep blanket of blubber to obtain
(06:59):
foss They merely swim along with open mouth. These peaceful
giants do not know how to fight for their lives,
like the sperm whales. So a man came hunting the
greenland well for oil and whalebone. He found an easy victim.
They have other enemies besides man. The killer well is
one of the fiercest, swiftest terrors of the sea. It
(07:23):
is tiny compared with the greenland whale, but much quicker
and more cunning. Several killers band together and spring to
the attack at the same time. Like wildcats, they dash
at the poor, helpless well and tear its sides with
terrible curved teeth. The swordfish and thresher shark also help
to destroy this harmless giant of the sea. The swordfish
(07:47):
pierces it with his pointed beak. The other slashes the
sight of the wretched whale with its long tail. It
is said by those who have seen such a fight
that the thresher's tail cuts deep into the whale side.
In all parts of the Wide Sea there are whales
of one kind or another. We have looked briefly at
(08:08):
the sperm and greenland whales and the killer whale. Besides these,
there is the narwhale or sea unicorn, with a wonderful tusk,
which is really a big tooth some six feet long.
Another one, the bottle nose whale, has a long, narrow
beak and is sometimes washed up on our shores. The
(08:28):
pilot well is also seen in herds in our seas.
Another visitor, the warkwell, is not welcomed by the fisherman.
This big fellow follows the shoals of mackerel and herring.
He lives on them swallowing as many at each gulp
as would fill several big baskets. The fisherman can spare
(08:49):
him the fish, but it is another matter when he
swims through valuable nets, tearing through them as if they
were so much cobweb. The commonest whale of our seas
is a small one, the common dolphin, who is a
midget some five or six feet long. You may have
seen dolphins, for they swim near the surface and may
(09:10):
often be noticed not far from shore. Like the warkles,
they follow the herring and mackerel shoals. Now and again
they dash into the nets and are shown in the
fish market exercises. One Describe how the whale breathes. Two
(09:30):
what food do the sperm and greenland whales eat? Three?
How does the greenland whale eat its food? Four? Give
the names of five kinds of whale. End of lesson six.
Lesson six of Within the Deep by R. Cadwalad Smith.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain lesson six
The Whale. Now and again whales are washed up on
our coast, and then we can see how huge is
this strange monster of the deep. It is by far
(00:21):
the largest of all living animals. Once on land, it
is quite helpless. It cannot regain its home in the waters,
and slowly dies. It is shaped like a fish, and
its home is in the sea, so no wonder it
has often been called a fish. If by chance the
whale is held under water, it drowns. It has no
(00:43):
gills like those of the fish to take air from
the water. It is a mammal, a creature that must
breathe the free air, just like other mammals. Nature is
full of surprises, and here she surprises us with a
mammal most marvelously fitted till live a fish like life.
The whale dives to great depths in search of food,
(01:05):
and stays under water for a long time. But it
is forced to rise again and breathe at the surface.
To do this, it need not put its head and
mouth out of water, for its nostril is at the
top of the head. As the whale forces used up
air from its nostril or blowhole as it is called,
(01:25):
it mixes with water. This causes a jet or spout
of water to rise some distance into the air. The
blowhole is closed by a stopper or valve, opening to
let the air in or out, but closing to shut
out the water. Some of the whale family are enormous,
and some are small. A large sperm whale may grow
(01:47):
to be ninety feet long, and its weight would be
nearly two hundred tons. This huge creature would look like
a deep barge in the water. These sperm whales love
to swim in herds or skulls. As many us three
hundred have been seen in one school old bulls and
cows and their young ones swimming together far out at sea.
(02:10):
It has been noticed that they all spout or breathe
at the same time and then dive to great depths.
The old ones seem to know that their babies cannot
stay under water as long as a full grown whale can,
and they all rise at the same time. These youngsters
may be nearly thirty feet long, but they gamble like
(02:31):
so many kittens, twisting and turning over and over and
throwing themselves into the air. Most whales are happy creatures,
enjoying their roving life in the free ocean. You can
well imagine that a whale as big as a barge
needs huge dinners. We should not be far wrong if
we guess that he would need about a ton of
(02:53):
food every day. Where is he to get all that food?
It is said that he feeds mostly on the cuddle fish,
that giant cousin of the octopus who haunts the dim
caverns of the deep. The sperm is of enormous strength
and is as fierce as he is strong, Otherwise he
would not dare to face the awful clinging arms of
(03:14):
the cuddle that ogre of the deep sea. The sperm
whale has a great, blunt head, a huge mouth, and
a throat large enough to swallow a man. His clumsy
looking head contains oil, so does the deep layer of
blubber with which his body is covered. For the sake
of this oil, the sperm has always been hunted, but
(03:37):
he is not easily overcome. He fights hard for life,
and many a whaling boat has been dashed to pieces
with one blow from the powerful tail of a hunted sperm.
This great tail is set crosswise, not upright, like the
tail of a fish. It is of immense power and
divided into two big flukes, as they are called. With
(04:00):
strong up and down strokes, the tail propels the monster
along at a great pace. It also shoots him down
to his feeding place in the depths of the sea,
and up again to fill his lungs with sweet fresh air.
The fins or paddles are used only as balancers and
to protect the young. These sperm whales inhabit warm seas,
(04:22):
but others of the well family haunt colder regions. The
greatest of these is the right whale or greenland whale,
a monster whose bulk rivals that of the sperm. Now
it is very strange that this, the largest member of
the whole kingdom of animals, should live on some of
the smallest creatures of the sea, and that the mouth
(04:44):
and throat of this monster should be so made that
he can eat only this minute food, food like that
which the tiny herring eats. In some parts of those
cold northern seas, the water is colored in bands of
red and blue. If you took a a bucketful, you
would find that the color was due to the myriads
of tiny creatures. Amongst these are other myriads of small animals,
(05:09):
each of less size than a housefly. The larger ones
are there to feed on the smaller ones, and the
mass of the small life is the food of this
mountain of fat and flesh. The greenland whale. He swims
through the sea with his mouth gaping open like a
great cavern, and soon thousands of the little creatures are inside.
(05:31):
Then his tongue comes forward. It is of immense size,
and it pushes out all the sea water from his mouth.
But the small animals remain inside, for the water is
forced through a wonderful sieve made of fringed plates, which
hangs from his upper jaw. Instead of having teeth in
his mouth, as many whales have, the greenland whale has
(05:52):
this sieve of whalebone. Of course, it is a large
sieve to fill so large a mouth, yet it is
never in the way, being neatly packed away at the
top of the mouth, one plate over the other when
not in use. The mass of small animals held back
by this peculiar sieve then slides down his throat, which
(06:15):
is a tube about as white as a boy's wrist.
We said just now that nature was full of surprises.
Is it not surprising to find a gigantic whale feeding
in this way? Inside the great mouth, the remorra or
sucking fish is often found. This fish has an oval
sucker on its head by which it fixes itself to
(06:37):
whales or even to the hull of a ship. It
has fens and can swim perfectly well, but prefers to
live in this lazy way. The whalebone whales lead a peaceful,
happy life, though not without dangers. The bitter cold of
their northern home is nothing to them, for are they
not snug in a deep blanket of blubber to obtain
(06:59):
foss They merely swim along with open mouth. These peaceful
giants do not know how to fight for their lives,
like the sperm whales. So a man came hunting the
greenland well for oil and whalebone. He found an easy victim.
They have other enemies besides man. The killer well is
one of the fiercest, swiftest terrors of the sea. It
(07:23):
is tiny compared with the greenland whale, but much quicker
and more cunning. Several killers band together and spring to
the attack at the same time. Like wildcats, they dash
at the poor, helpless well and tear its sides with
terrible curved teeth. The swordfish and thresher shark also help
to destroy this harmless giant of the sea. The swordfish
(07:47):
pierces it with his pointed beak. The other slashes the
sight of the wretched whale with its long tail. It
is said by those who have seen such a fight
that the thresher's tail cuts deep into the whale side.
In all parts of the Wide Sea there are whales
of one kind or another. We have looked briefly at
(08:08):
the sperm and greenland whales and the killer whale. Besides these,
there is the narwhale or sea unicorn, with a wonderful tusk,
which is really a big tooth some six feet long.
Another one, the bottle nose whale, has a long, narrow
beak and is sometimes washed up on our shores. The
(08:28):
pilot well is also seen in herds in our seas.
Another visitor, the warkwell, is not welcomed by the fisherman.
This big fellow follows the shoals of mackerel and herring.
He lives on them swallowing as many at each gulp
as would fill several big baskets. The fisherman can spare
(08:49):
him the fish, but it is another matter when he
swims through valuable nets, tearing through them as if they
were so much cobweb. The commonest whale of our seas
is a small one, the common dolphin, who is a
midget some five or six feet long. You may have
seen dolphins, for they swim near the surface and may
(09:10):
often be noticed not far from shore. Like the warkles,
they follow the herring and mackerel shoals. Now and again
they dash into the nets and are shown in the
fish market exercises. One Describe how the whale breathes. Two
(09:30):
what food do the sperm and greenland whales eat? Three?
How does the greenland whale eat its food? Four? Give
the names of five kinds of whale. End of lesson six.
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