Turns out that Filipa, the lead scientist on the Orca
project, is a book reader just like I am! All throughout her presentation at
the beginning of the expedition she kept interrupting herself, saying “Oh, I
have a book on that subject, if you’re interested!”
The following are her recommendations, if you’re looking
for some good reading:
Into Great Silence: A Memoir of Discovery and
Loss among Vanishing Orcas
by Eva Saulitis
Ever since Eva Saulitis began her whale research in
Alaska in the 1980s, she has been drawn deeply into the lives of a single
extended family of endangered orcas struggling to survive in Prince William
Sound. Over the course of a decades-long career spent observing and
studying these whales, and eventually coming to know them as individuals, she
has, sadly, witnessed the devastation wrought by the Exxon Valdez oil spill of
1989—after which not a single calf has been born to the group. With the
intellectual rigor of a scientist and the heart of a poet, Saulitis gives voice
to these vital yet vanishing survivors and the place they are so loyal to. Both
an elegy for one orca family and a celebration of the entire species, Into
Great Silence is a moving portrait of the interconnectedness of humans
with animals and place—and of the responsibility we have to protect them.
We Are All Whalers: The Plight of Whales and
Our Responsibility
by Michael J. Moore
The image most of us have of whalers includes harpoons
and intentional trauma. Yet eating commercially caught seafood leads to whales’
entanglement and slow death in rope and nets, and the global shipping routes
that bring us readily available goods often lead to death by collision. We—all
of us—are whalers, marine scientist and veterinarian Michael J. Moore contends.
But we do not have to be.
Drawing on over forty years of fieldwork with humpback,
pilot, fin, and, in particular, North Atlantic right whales—a species whose
population has declined more than 20 percent since 2017—Moore takes us with him
as he performs whale necropsies on animals stranded on beaches, in his
independent research alongside whalers using explosive harpoons, and as he
tracks injured whales to deliver sedatives. The whales’ plight is a complex,
confounding, and disturbing one. We learn of existing but poorly enforced conservation
laws and of perennial (and often failed) efforts to balance the push for
fisheries profit versus the protection of endangered species caught by
accident.
But despite these challenges, Moore’s tale is an
optimistic one. He shows us how technologies for ropeless fishing and the
acoustic tracking of whale migrations make a dramatic difference. And he looks
ahead with hope as our growing understanding of these extraordinary creatures
fuels an ever-stronger drive for change.
How to Speak Whale: The Power and Wonder of
Listening to Animals
by Tom Mustill
On September 12, 2015, Tom Mustill was paddling in a
two-person kayak with a friend just off the coast of California. It was cold,
but idyllic—until a humpback whale breached, landing on top of them, releasing
the energy equivalent of forty hand grenades. He was certain he was about to
die, but they both survived, miraculously unscathed. In the interviews that
followed the incident, Mustill was left with one question: What could
this astonishing encounter teach us?
Drawing from his experience as a naturalist and wildlife filmmaker, Mustill
started investigating human–whale interactions around the world when he met two
tech entrepreneurs who wanted to use artificial intelligence (AI)—originally
designed to translate human languages—to discover patterns in the conversations
of animals and decode them. As he embarked on a journey into animal
eavesdropping technologies, where big data meets big beasts, Mustill discovered
that there is a revolution taking place in biology, as the technologies
developed to explore our own languages are turned to nature.
From seventeenth-century Dutch inventors, to the whaling industry of the
nineteenth century, to the cutting edge of Silicon Valley, How to Speak
Whale examines how scientists and start-ups around the world are
decoding animal communications. Whales, with their giant mammalian brains,
virtuoso voices, and long, highly social lives, offer one of the most realistic
opportunities for this to happen. But what would the consequences of such human
animal interaction be?
We’re about to find out.
Puget Sound Whales for Sale: The Fight to End
Orca Hunting
by Sandra Pollard
In November, 2005, Washington’s iconic killer whales,
known as Southern Resident orcas, were placed on the endangered species list.
It was a victory long overdue for a fragile population of fewer than one
hundred whales. Author and certified marine naturalist Sandra Pollard traces
the story and destinies of the many Southern Resident orcas captured for
commercial purposes in or near the Puget Sound between 1964 and 1976. During
this time, these highly intelligent members of the dolphin family lost nearly
one-third of their population. Drawing on original archive material, this
important volume outlines the history of orca captivity while also recounting
the harrowing struggle—and ultimate triumph—for the Puget Sound orcas’ freedom.
The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear
of Orcas
by Hanne Strager
Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award by the NOBA
Foundation, Honorable mention for the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Awards by the
Northland College
When intrepid biology student Hanne Strager volunteered
to be the cook on a small research vessel in Norway's Lofoten Islands, the trip
inspired a decades-long journey into the lives of killer whales―and an
exploration of people's complex relationships with the biggest predators on
earth. The Killer Whale Journals chronicles the now
internationally renowned science writer's fascinating adventures around the
world, documenting Strager's personal experiences with orcas in the wild.
Killer whales' incredible intelligence, long life spans,
and strong family bonds lead many people to see them as kindred spirits in the
sea. But not everyone feels this way―like wolves, orcas have been both beloved
and vilified throughout human history. In this absorbing odyssey, Strager
traces the complicated relationship between humans and killer whales, while
delving into their behavior, biology, and ecology. She brings us along in her
travels to the most remote corners of the world, battling the stormy Arctic
seas of northern Norway with fellow biologists intent on decoding whale-song,
interviewing First Nations conservationists in Vancouver, observing Inuit
hunters in Greenland, and witnessing the dismantling of black market
"whale jails" in the Russian wilderness of Kamchatka. Through these
captivating stories, Strager introduces us to a diverse cast of characters from
Inuit elders to Australian Aboriginal whalers and guides us through the world's
wild waters, from fjords above the Arctic circle in Norway to the
poaching-infested waters off Kamchatka. Featuring astonishing photographs from
famed nature photographer and conservationist Paul Nicklen, TheKiller
Whale Journals reveals rare and intimate moments of connection with
these fierce, brilliant predators.
Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our
World
by Joe Roman
If forests are the lungs of the planet, then animals
migrating across oceans, streams, and mountains—eating, pooping, and dying
along the way—are its heart and arteries, pumping nitrogen and phosphorus from
deep-sea gorges up to mountain peaks, from the Arctic to the Caribbean. Without
this conveyor belt of crucial, life-sustaining nutrients, the world would look
very different.
The dynamics that shape our physical world—atmospheric chemistry, geothermal
forces, plate tectonics, and erosion through wind and rain—have been explored
for decades. But the effects on local ecosystems of less glamorous
forces—rotting carcasses and deposited feces—as well as their impact on the
global climate cycle, have been largely overlooked. The simple truth is that
pooping and peeing are daily rituals for almost all animals, the ellipses of
ecology that flow through life. We eat, we poop, and we die.
From the volcanoes of Iceland to the tropical waters of Hawaii, the great
plains of the American heartland, and beyond, Eat, Poop, Die,
“compulsively readable” (Shelby Van Pelt), takes readers on an exhilarating and
enlightening global adventure, revealing the remarkable ways in which the most
basic biological activities of animals make and remake the world—and how a
deeper understanding of these cycles provides us with opportunities to undo the
environmental damage humanity has wrought on the planet we call home.
Killer Whales of Southern Alaska
by Dena Matkin
Whales, Orcas, Killer whales, Alaska, ocean, predators,
mammals, Southern Alaska
