Ellen Sackman, age 10, of Atherton, Calif
What does a whale spout?
Perhaps you have heard that a whale spouts water. Many people think that the big fells takes water into his mouth and then squirts it up in a misty fountain through a hole in the top of his head. This is not so, The frothy fountain is made of warm, steamy air. When he spouts„ the big animal is merely breathing out. He is emptying the air from his huge lungs.
Mr. Whale, of courses is an air‑breathing animal, even though he makes his home in the deep ocean and never comes on land. The breathing problem was solved by his ancestors long ages ago. He comas up for air and fills his monstrous lungs, These great caverns have elastic walls and the whale puffs and puffs until they are filled to the brim.
His nostril is called a blowhole and is on the top of his head, Certain of the whales have two blowholes. This nostril is not connected with the mouth or the throat, as our nostrils are. It connects directly with the lungs, When the great caverns are filled with fresh air, down the whale goes to the depths of the ocean in search of food. This is called sounding. As a rule, the whale sounds for 15 or 20 minutes, but he can stay down for almost an hour.
The blowhole has a valve which seals shut when the whale sinks below the water. All the time he is down there, he is holding his breath. The insides of his giant lunge are warm and moist. The air too becomes warm and moist.
At last he must come to the surface to breathe out and fill his lunge with fresh air. This is a big fob and it takes several minutes. The warm, vapor‑filled air meets the cool air above the water. In the clash between the warm moist air and the coal drier air, the vapor is turned into white mist, The spout is made from this filmy froth.
There are many different whales and each has his own special blowhole or pair of blowholes, The plumy‑spout takes its shape from the shape of the blowhole, Hence each type whale has a spout all his own. Whale hunters can recognize the whale from the shape of his plumy fountain The whale they usually hunt is the right whale, rich in oil and blubber. His spout is a tall column which divides at the top and falls down in two graceful arches.
The playful humpbacked whale spouts up a long, round misty cloud. The sperm whale, who also is valuable to the whalers squirts his misty cloud at an angle, forward and upward. The fishback whale has a thin and slender spout. The sulphur bottom whale sends up a highs thick column of misty steam. This fellow is the meat blue whale, the largest animal who ever lived on land or sea.