An orca probably could not kill a large whale alone, but single individuals undoubtedly cause all the fin whales great annoyance by biting off the tips of their flukes and flippers; at least two-thirds of the whales brought to the stations had the flukes or flippers injured. I have a photograph of a young finback whale with the flipper torn and mangled and plainly showing a killer’s teeth marks. The sperm whale is probably the only marine animal which is more than a match for a herd of killers. The enormous lower jaw of a sperm whale presents an array of teeth even more formidable than those of the orca, and I greatly doubt if the killer could succeed in terrifying this whale; it is significant that the flukes and flippers of sperms are practically always free from injuries. Like other members of the dolphin family, the killer has twelve teeth in both jaws and they may be readily distinguished from those of the sperm whale by their smaller size and flatter basal portion. CHAPTER XIX A STRANGE GIANT OF THE OCEAN Of all the strange animals which live in the sea the sperm whale is certainly one of the most extraordinary; whenever I look at one I feel like saying with the country boy who had just seen his first camel: “There ain’t no such thing, b’gosh.” [Illustration: A sperm whale lying on the slip at Kyuquot, Vancouver Island. Note the slender lower jaw and the small side fins. ] Its head, which occupies one-third of the entire body, is rectangular in shape, and contains an immense tank filled with liquid oil known as “spermaceti.” It is only necessary to cut an opening in the “case,” as this portion of the head is called, and with a bucket dip out ten or fifteen barrels of oil. Spermaceti congeals slightly when cooled and in appearance is much like soft white paraffin. Beneath the oil-case is a great mass of cellular tissue, called the “junk,” which also contains spermaceti although not in a liquid condition. Spermaceti is used almost entirely for lubricating fine pieces of machinery and its quality is very much superior to the oil obtained from the blubber. The use to the whale of the oil-case is largely a matter of conjecture. My own belief is that it acts as a great reservoir and that the animal draws upon it for nourishment during periods of food scarcity. Bears, seals, and other animals store up on their bodies great quantities of fat which enable them to live without food during hibernation, or the breeding period, and the sperm whale is possibly a similar case; some specimens are killed which are “dry,” and have practically no oil in either the blubber or head.