Chapter 110 105．Will whales degenerate?Are whales going extinct?

When we study cetaceans in depth, we will definitely ask such a question, that is: whether cetaceans have evolved or degenerated since the time we know they existed until now. This is inferred from what we have so far. Comparing the sperm whales we caught and the discovered Tertiary whale fossils, we found that the body of the current sperm whales is longer than that of the Tertiary cetacean fossils. If we compare the Tertiary whale fossils with the early whale fossils, we find that the Tertiary ones are larger. From this we can deduce that the body of the whale is not constantly shrinking.

In the last chapter we spoke of the great whale of Alabama, which is the largest extant whale, and its backbone length was not more than seventy feet, but the largest whale we have now caught, measured its backbone. The frame was seventy-two feet long, and, according to authorities, was over a hundred feet long when it was first captured. Although the cetologists of the past had various statements about the length of the great whale, and some even believed that the largest whale was 800 feet long, none of these statements had any real basis. No one will believe them. One more question to ask: Will cetaceans go extinct?

You must know that the current whaling ships are almost in every corner of the world, and their watchmen stand on the top of the mast and can see all the whales in the world. These whaling ships cruise almost all the whale-infested seas in the world, and their javeliners hold up their javelins, and they will not let go of every large whale that swims past them. Can cetaceans survive such relentless pursuit by humans? Will they become extinct and disappear under the blow of human beings? Could the fate of the bison be the fate of the whales? Thirty or forty years ago, on the prairies of Illinois and Missouri in the United States, there were tens of thousands of bison herds. They roamed freely and multiplied.

But now, only thirty or forty years later, there is no trace of them anymore, and they have become extinct under the brutal hunting of human beings. Will the fate of the whale one day be the same as that of the bison? Let's analyze calmly. As a result of the analysis, we believe that cetaceans will not be extinct by humans. First of all, our whaling ships will definitely not gain as much as those who hunt bison. Even if one of our whaling ships has forty sailors, if it sails for four years and catches at most forty large whales, then The same number of hunters would kill at least 40,000 bison in the same amount of time.

Secondly, the safety awareness of whales is much stronger now, and they have begun to organize in groups with great momentum to resist human hunting.They will keep shifting, keep avoiding humans, you think it disappeared, maybe it is hiding somewhere else. Third, cetaceans have two natural fortresses, namely the Antarctic and the Arctic regions. These two regions are forbidden areas for humans, but they are the sanctuaries of whales. Humans may never break through them. Fourth, compared with some animals on land, cetaceans have a much larger range of activities and much more room for maneuver, while animals on land, such as elephants, have been hunted for thousands of years But not extinct, so how could whales become extinct?

They will keep multiplying. Fifth, the life span of big whales is much longer than that of human beings, and they can live to be a hundred years old. Just imagine, if we bring back to life all the contemporaries of us who have not lived to a hundred years old, what will happen to our world? How many more will come? Therefore, based on the above reasons, we will say: Whales will not be extinct by humans. Although they may die individually, on the whole, cetaceans are immortal.