CHILDREN OF CARNAGE

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3183, 28 May 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

CHILDREN OF CARNAGE

A STUDY OF WHALE LIFE. ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY. s >• ' On a fine September morning a school of humpback whales cruised on a leisurely course southward through a sub-tropical sea. They were return-. i ing from the long voyage which their kind makes each year from the icy Antarctic to bear their young in the calm, warm waters near the equator. The school—or “ gam,” as the whalers term such a travelling party—was made up of many families, each consisting of an old bull, his three or four wives and their calves, and an assortment of daughters and lady friends uneommoded as yet, or for the present, by family cares. The young bachelors kept to themselves a good deal, not because they particularly desired ifc but on account of the hostile reception meted out by the heads of families to any gay young Lothario who showed an inclination to make up to the ladies of their harems. Each little while the glistening sea would heave gently as a great, rounded, black back rose through it; two jets of smoky breath-mist shot into the air, spreading out into a little drifting cloud, as the deep bass blast of rushing air came from giant lungs. For a few minutes Leviathan would rest, his 50 feet of bulk awash like a half-tide rock, the ripples breaking in a tiny surf on his great, warty head. Then the hroad tail-flukes stirred gently under the surface, and he slid out of sight in search of another mouthful of the tiny sea creatures which nourish the huge bodies of his kind. YOUTH AND ROMANCE. As 'Occurs amongst higher mammalian orders than whales, youth round a way to convey its eternal and compelling call to youth, in spite of •all that staid elders could do to pre- • vent it. Bachelordom showed off, now leaping clear of the water to display •the grace and activity of its 60-ton figur© and the beauty of contrast between a shining black back and pure white under-surface; now revolving in a whirl of spouting water, the 12foot flippers beating the surface to a yeasty foam. Flapperdonp pretending coyly to take no notice, edged further and further away from parental supervision, until she met—quite accidentally, of course some gay young spark emerging from a dive. There is no scientific record of a flapper whale having ever been heard to giggle, but they certainly convey the effect in some manner indistinguish-

able by our dwarfed senses. Such a meeting is ludicrously like the trysting of callow, clumsy, human youth—the maid, a sylph of, perhaps, 45 tons, pretends to flee; the ardent suitor pursues and overtakes. In perturbed modesty she slaps him with a flipper that would sink a motor launch'; he nudges her in the ribs through a foot of blubber. Voiceless as are humpback whales, her next move assuredly is to order him to “ Starp-it! Starpirt, now ! ” The amorous swain persists, daringly, and the lady’s coy resistance raises an ocean commotion which has frequently confused steamer tourists in the unfounded belief Vthat they have witnessed, with their own eyes, that mythical combat alleged by mendacious mariners to be waged between the thresher shark and the whale. Finally, when she considers that she has done enough in the cause of feminine modesty, she allows herself to rest in his conquering flippers. CARES OF A MOTHER. However flirtatious as flappers, the cares and duties of maternity are taken very seriously amongst the whale folk. Any mother will admit that it is no light task to breast-feed an active and enterprising infant 25 feet long, and to protect it from the ever-threatening accidents of a long voyage in—not merely on—the sea. 'The youngsters sported about, playing with each other after the manner of all young things, occasionally running away and having to be brought back by an anxious mother, perhaps with a smack over* the back from a flipper the size of a large rowing boat. Growing hungry, the baby would charge the maternal founts like a small submarine, butting its blunt ttose into the two great swelling mounds of. udder, and sucking like a large ship’s pump at teats as c large as cream cans. The mother lay •on her side, caressing the infant with her .flippers until it had satisfied its wants from: the rich yellow milk; then dived gently with it, to gather

food for herself, and to teach it how to make an independent living. CHILDREN OF CARNAGE.

Cutting across the rippled sea came a line ! of four high, triangular fins, black as polished ebony. The newcomers were whales also, but dwarfs in size compared with the humpbacks, three of them, indeed, no larger than a new-born humpback calf. The leader measured, perhaps, 30 feet, the others half much; the snow-white undersurface of each curved up the black .sides in an oval pattern, an oblong patch of white marked each side of the face, like a slanting, sinister eye. They were killer whales, true children of carnage, fiercest, most indomitable, and most formidable of the whole world of sea creatures.

As they closed in a stir ran through the peaceful families. Play and feeding ceased, the mothers gathered their giant infants to them, the herd drew together, and sheered nervously away from the intruders. For a sea-mile the killers nioved parallel with them, the leader raising his grim head to watch for the waiting opportunity. A sportive baby, tired of the monotony, took it into its head to run away. The agitated mother followed. The waiting killers saw them leave the protecting herd, and on the instant hurled themselves upon the doomed pair. They caught the mother just as she had clasped her calf under a flipper, and was striving to make back to safety. The leader sank his spike-like teeth deep into her lip folds, and hung on; two others gripped her flippers,wrenching them apart to get at the calf; the fourth dodged underneath, seeking to tear the terrified thing from her frantic grasp. In an agony she hove her head high in the air, but the relentless enemies held on, battering her with their powerful tails, rending at her flesh until she fell back with a thunderous splash amidst a spout of blood-stained foam. The dreadful grip on her jaw drew her mouth open; in pain she relaxed her hold. Instantly the attackers flung themselves on the writhing calf, tearing off great masses of its tendei.’ flesh in a dreadful tug lof war, until the last dismembered remains vanished into the dark depths below. AN OCEAN TRAGEDY.

Exhausted, the mother whale lay awash fox- a while, and then began to swim in slow, wide circles seeking the calf. Unsatiated, the killers watched her from the midst of their bloody feast, knowing well that she would not abandon her search. As she quested blunderingly on, the leader hurled himself again upon her jaw; the others followed. In vain she swung her huge tail flukes, and cast herself clear of the water; their grip never relaxed. She sought to dive, but, tired from the straggle, she was forced back to the surface. In a last gigantic flurry she threw her head into the air; blood streamed down the pleats of her white thi'oat, and crimsoned the sea for fifty yards round. Her mouth was forced open, the killers seized the great cushioned mass of her tongue and tore it from Rs roots; a shudder ran through her, she rolled on her side, and slowly the body sank in a vortex of ensanguined waters', followed down by heir murderers. , ... .. - A little later the sinister line ot black, pointed fins was cutting across the surface towards the flying herd, now hidden behind the curvature of the sea’s breast, but clear m sighi ol their blood-hungry senses.