On the morning of Oct. 7, 1988, an Alaskan Indian left his home in the small town of Barrow in the northwest of Alaska to hunt seals. It was bitterly cold. Winter had come early, and the sea around Barrow had already frozen over. He was used to freezing temperatures and to being surrounded by ice and snow for months on end. He had hunted seals in conditions like these many times.

But this was no ordinary day. As he tramped across the ice, something caught his eye. He moved closer and saw an extraordinary sight. Three California gray whales were pushing their great heads through a crack in the ice! He realized that the whales were trapped in the ice, their noses scraped and bruised from trying to force a way to the open sea.

The hunter guessed that the three whales had been left behind when their herd began the long swim south from their summer feeding grounds in the Arctic Ocean to their winter breeding grounds in the warm waters of California. Surprised by the sudden, early arrival of winter, these three seemed to have lost their sense of direction. Instead of heading for open water, they had swum into a shallow bay where the water had quickly frozen over and formed a wall of ice at the bay's mouth. There was no way out.

The man knew that whales need to come up to the surface about every four minutes to breathe. He also knew that the whales needed help fast. They had made one small breathing hole, but the ice was thick, and they were too weak to create any more. He raced back to Barrow for help.

For more fun reading and doing activities, try these Web sites:    • Creature Feature: Orcas    • WhaleNet    • Whales on the Net    • Whale thematic unit