ssible an
intelligent species of whale had learned to herd masses of land animals.

But Ekstrohm knew he needed proof. He had to have something to link the
pseudo-death of the wart-hogs to the inexplicable presence of the
whales. Perhaps, he thought, the "death" of the pigs was the whales' way
of putting them into cold storage--a method of making the meat seem
unattractive to other animals, on a world perhaps without carrion
scavengers....

Something was stirring among the pigs.

* * * * *

One under-sized beastie was pawing the dirt, a red eye set on the
fattest animal in sight. Then Shortie charged Fatso. But abruptly a
large raw-boned critter was in Shortie's path, barring him from Fatso.

Faced by Big Boy, Shortie trembled with rage and went into a terrible
temper tantrum, rolling on the ground, pawing it in frenzy, squealing in
maddened rage. Then Shortie was on his feet, desperate determination
showing in every line of his body. With heedless, desperate, foolhardy
courage he charged Big Boy.

Big Boy took the headlong charge in his side with only a trifling grunt.

Shortie bounced ten feet in the light gravity, and grimly wallowed to
his feet. He leveled an eye at Big Boy, and his legs were pumping in
frenzied fury again.

Big Boy shifted his kilos of weight casually and met Shortie head on.

The tremendous _ker-rack_ reverberated from the bluff behind Ekstrohm.

Shortie lay on the ground.

No, Ekstrohm thought, he isn't dead. His sides were pumping in and out.
But he was knocked cold.

Ekstrohm had to sympathize with him. He had never seen a more valiant
try against insurmountable odds.

Big Boy was ambling over towards Fatso, apparently to claim his prize.
Fatso apparently was the sow.

But Big Boy stalked on past Fatso. She squealed after him tentatively,
but he turned and blasted her back with a bellowing snort.

Ekstrohm watched the scene repeated with other actors several times
before he was sure.

The older males, the Big Boys, _never_ collected the favors of the harem
for themselves.

Instinctively, the pigs were practicing _birth control_. The older males
abstained, and forced the younger males to do the same.

On a world like this, Ekstrohm's first thought was of death.

He thought, these pigs must be like lemmings, deliberately trying to
destroy their own race, to commit geno-suicide.

But that didn't answer any of the other questions, about the
_