Translation 2783

• 287
The adults in the Australian herdsusually breed once in two
years, but lactating females that were already pregnant have been
recorded.
At birth the calves are about 4.3 to 4.5 metres in length;,
they are suckled for more than ten months, until the end of June.
The average fat content of the milk is 33ciL* Gestation lasts for
* The milk of the females in .the Chile-Peru herd containS'
from 45% to 4e of fat.
almost a year. The peak of mating occurs in the middle of August,
and parturition is at almost the same time in the following year.
Cases of multiple birth are rare (0.5%), and more than three embryos
have never been found. Soviet investigators were the first among
whale specialists to describe a case of Siamese twins, in a female
12.7 metres long, in January 1961: there were two embryos grown
together -- males 120 cm and 124 cm long.
These whales have been found encrusted with barnacles
(poronula), on whose shells there were the goose-barnacles Conchoderma<
Diatom algae are often observed on their bodies in Antarctic waters.
Endoparasites infest their kidneys and ureters, and less often their 187
alimentary tract.
Their diseases are almost unstudied. Tumours.
have been found on their lower jaw, tongue, and lungs.
Hump-back whales have been one of the first objectives oe
modern whaling in Antarctic waters (as in other regions) and in the
entire southern hemisphere .
The first coastal whaling station was
established on the island of South Georgia, and during its first
season 180 hump-back whales (out of a total of 195 whales) were taken.
From the beginning of Antarctic whaling until the 1967-68
season, coastal stations and whaling-vessels have reported taking
69,287 hump-back whales in Antarctic waters (the actual - total would
be not less than 80,000).
The nu-.1bers reported by African coastal
stations, and reported as taken in other regions, since 1910 are
38,726 and 43,302 resT,eOtively (the actual figures would be not
less than 45,000 and 50,000 respectively). Data on the take are
presented in Appendixes 10, 11, and 14,
A single hump-back whale yields up to eight tons of oil,
which is used in the food and confectionery industries. The flesh
is used for hu:.lan food. The liver and various endocrine glands
are also processed,.
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