Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 123, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1904 — WHALES AS THEY DIVE. [ARTICLE]

WHALES AS THEY DIVE.

Somethin* About the Habits of the Oeean Monsters. * Both whalers and naturalists have usually held that when whales “sound" they descend to great depths, says Knowledge. One writer on the subject estimates that the larger members of the group dive fully a thousand yards. In a memoir published in Belgium Dr. Racovitza challenges this belief and States that in his opinion 100 yards is the maximum depth to which any whale can dive and that many species cannot reach anything like that limit Says the writer: -. Why should whales want to go to such depths? All whales sound for the purpose of obtaining food, and in the profound darkness of 1,000 yards what food could they get? Those species which feed on animalcules might, perhaps, obtain what they want But how about the species which feed on fishes and cutties? At a depth of 1,000 yards they certainly could hot use their eyes to detect nonluminous species, and we have no evidence whatever that they feed on the self luminous deep sea fish and cutties, if. Indeed, there be any of the latter. On the contrary, the available evidence Indicates that they feed on ordinary light dwelling fishes and cutties which live in much shallower cones. But this is not all. It is known that the effects of a pressure of more than three atmospheres prove fatal to human life; and, although we may believe that whales can stand treble this pressure, or nine atmospheres, which would occur at about ninety yards’ depth, is it conceivable that they could resist the effect of ten times the latter pressure, or ninety atmospheres? Moreover, does it seem possible that a whale whose body is only slightly heavier than water at ordinary pressure could exert the muscular force necessary to propel that body to a depth of 1,000 <hrds?