Translation 2783

254
calves stay with their mothers for half a year and feed on milk,
the fat content of which is Up to 47.5. During the lactation neriod
the.calves almost double in size, attaining a length of 6-9 metres.
The females produce young once in two years, -
in the warm zone
off the western coasts of Mexico and Lower California and around
the Maràhall, Mariana, and Bonin Islands. The mother takes great
care of her calf, and will protect it from danger at the risk of her
own life.
a year.
The family pair appear to remain together for less than
Physical maturity is attained at the age of about 17 or 18
years, when the body length of the males is 13.6 metres and that
of the females is 14.6 metres.
Hump-back whales often approach the coasts and enter river
estuaries, where they rid themselves of external parasites, which
perish in fresh water.
While they are feeding the duration of a dive may be six or
seven minutes or more, depending on the organisms eaten and the
depth of the sea.
Hump-back whales are called "happy whales" because of their
playfulness and their leans in the air.
Their parasites and incrustations are the same as - those of
the whales in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Little study
has been given to their diseases.
The hunting of hump-back whales in the northern part of the
Pacific Ocean has been very irregular:
take was from 166 to 726.
In 1912-1914 -the seasonal
During the period following World War II
hump-back whales have been hunted most actively since 1953, the
seasonal take being from 115 to 487. The highest takes in the whole
history of the hunting of hump-back whales were recorded in 1962 and
1963 (1,312 and 2,339 respectively). Data on the kill of hump-back
whales are presented in Appendixes 7 and 11.
oil.
A single hump-back whale yields up to five or six tons of
The flesh (up to two or three tons) iS used for human food.
Sometimes other parts (the liver, the pancreas, etc.) are also used.
Weighings made on the whaling factory-ship Aleut have shown
that a male 12.92 metres long weighed 27,714 kg, and a female 13.9
metres long weighed 32,374 kg.
On the coast of California males