Whale Waters—Summer and Winter
One cannot help but be impressed with the remarkable utilization of time by the whales whose lives seem to be divided into two principal seasons, a summer feeding period and a winter period of reproduction. Each of these major activities is preceded by a tremendously long migration. Nearly half of every year must be devoted to this activity. Considering the extreme length of the migration, whales cannot wander aimlessly or carelessly. Whales which summer in the Antarctic continue to do so as do the whales in the Arctic waters, and only rarely does one pass through the wide belt of equatorial water to venture into the other hemisphere.
Once on the summer grounds the whales occupy themselves with feeding almost continuously during the long polar day. Even though the food is patchy, the whales seem to find it quickly, spending a minimum of time in search. By the onset of autumn, they are fat, and all the babies are weaned.
It is uncanny that the various species all manifest the instinctive reaction to vacate this region at the proper time, thus avoiding almost certain death by the freezing of the sea’s surface. Again the seeming miracle of aptness is evident, for the whales swim unerringly out of the dangerous areas toward warmer and calmer seas. Because of the extremely wide band of winter storms, whales must move at least below 30° latitude to be clear of the areas of stormy seas. Migration stops as soon as they are sufficiently clear of these. Whales then undertake the other essential link in the chain of life, reproduction. By spring the babies are strong enough and fat enough to accompany their mothers.