Greatest sins of mankind (Part I)....
About 150 years ago, in a small coastal town called Eden at NSW, Australia, the first batch of European migrants came to settle down in that beautiful place. The Europeans at that time were well known whale hunters, and that was no exception to this small group of westerners in this foreign land. These migrants have a group of very skilled whale hunters, led by the master whaler George Davidson.
What is amazing about this group of hunters is not just their superior skills in whale hunting, but George's ability to communicate with the Orcas, otherwise known as the killer whales. Killer whales have been proven to be very smart animals who could communicate well with each other while also showing compassion to the human. There was documented record of Aborigines who would light two stick of fire on the beach when they saw killer whales hunting other larger whales that were herbivores (such as humpbacks) near the beach while holding a stick to indicate that they were sickly people, thus encouraging the killer whales, which have very sharp eyesights, to share their prey with the sickly men. True enough, those killer whales would leave some of the carcasses of the animals they have killed on the beach for the 'poor sickly' man, showing their generosity and compassion towards human.
George would be alerted to the availability of preys by a whale he called Old Tom, which would come by his house and make splashing sound right outside his doorstep. He would gather his team of hunters, even if it was during the middle of the night and they would set out to follow old Tom to meet with its other companions, with fogs and cold weather still enveloping the area. They would be led to the location of the prey, which some of Tom's companions were already starting to attack on, by following Tom on small boats (Sampan-like, if you know what that means), armed with harpoons. It has to be remembered that at that time there was no navigation equipments that could lead them back to the shore if they were lost, but they believed in Tom so much that they just followed it every single time without fail. For its part, Tom had never deserted the hunters and it always stayed by the side of the ship to fend off attacks from sharks or other whales if the hunters accidentally fell into the water. There were also reports that the killer whales would dive deep into the ocean floor if there were drowning hunters and pull them up to the surface.
Why has the killer whale done all this? for the start, it is a win-win partnership for the hunters and the killer whales when they enter into this informal agreement to hunt for larger whales. Humpback, which may be 10 times bigger than a killer whale, may not be a predator, but its sheer size would mean that it is going to take a long time for the killer whale to kill it. Likewise for the human hunters. It is estimated that to kill a humpback, the hunters would require around 7 boats full of people equipped with harpoons, while they could do it with just 1 boat with the help of the Orcas. The Aborigines were the first ones to start this partnership, according to documentations, and they noticed that the Orcas always took only a few bites of the carcass after the hunting and left the rest to them. However, there was always one missing part from the carcass: the tongue. Hence, they named it 'The law of the tongue', which simply means that the agreement was for the Orcas to take the carcass after hunting and they would take it back to them within 36 hours, minus the tongue..
What is amazing about this group of hunters is not just their superior skills in whale hunting, but George's ability to communicate with the Orcas, otherwise known as the killer whales. Killer whales have been proven to be very smart animals who could communicate well with each other while also showing compassion to the human. There was documented record of Aborigines who would light two stick of fire on the beach when they saw killer whales hunting other larger whales that were herbivores (such as humpbacks) near the beach while holding a stick to indicate that they were sickly people, thus encouraging the killer whales, which have very sharp eyesights, to share their prey with the sickly men. True enough, those killer whales would leave some of the carcasses of the animals they have killed on the beach for the 'poor sickly' man, showing their generosity and compassion towards human.
George would be alerted to the availability of preys by a whale he called Old Tom, which would come by his house and make splashing sound right outside his doorstep. He would gather his team of hunters, even if it was during the middle of the night and they would set out to follow old Tom to meet with its other companions, with fogs and cold weather still enveloping the area. They would be led to the location of the prey, which some of Tom's companions were already starting to attack on, by following Tom on small boats (Sampan-like, if you know what that means), armed with harpoons. It has to be remembered that at that time there was no navigation equipments that could lead them back to the shore if they were lost, but they believed in Tom so much that they just followed it every single time without fail. For its part, Tom had never deserted the hunters and it always stayed by the side of the ship to fend off attacks from sharks or other whales if the hunters accidentally fell into the water. There were also reports that the killer whales would dive deep into the ocean floor if there were drowning hunters and pull them up to the surface.
Why has the killer whale done all this? for the start, it is a win-win partnership for the hunters and the killer whales when they enter into this informal agreement to hunt for larger whales. Humpback, which may be 10 times bigger than a killer whale, may not be a predator, but its sheer size would mean that it is going to take a long time for the killer whale to kill it. Likewise for the human hunters. It is estimated that to kill a humpback, the hunters would require around 7 boats full of people equipped with harpoons, while they could do it with just 1 boat with the help of the Orcas. The Aborigines were the first ones to start this partnership, according to documentations, and they noticed that the Orcas always took only a few bites of the carcass after the hunting and left the rest to them. However, there was always one missing part from the carcass: the tongue. Hence, they named it 'The law of the tongue', which simply means that the agreement was for the Orcas to take the carcass after hunting and they would take it back to them within 36 hours, minus the tongue..
posted by leonhart @ 8:34 PM
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