Killer Whales

Killer Whales
Author: Robin W. Baird
Publisher: New Line Books
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2002
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9781841071039

Killer whales are the supreme predators in the ocean. This introduction to killer whales, or orcas, pieces together the latest information on their life histories. How they communicate and maintain well-established societies, with intricate family relationships, over long lifespans. We also learn that killer whales must now contend with toxic pollutants, overfishing of their prey and a host of other environmental concerns. Illustrated by the world's best wildlife photographers, this book brings us face to face with these intriguing creatures in their underwater realms.

Marine Mammals and the Exxon Valdez

Marine Mammals and the Exxon Valdez
Author: Thomas R. Loughlin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 426
Release: 1994
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

The oil spill disaster that occurred when the Exxon Valdez ran aground has become part of the iconography of ecological disaster. This book synthesizes confidential data, recently released by the US government, concerning the effects of this spill on marine mammals (ie. sea otters, harbour seals, killer whales and humpback whales). Many of the contributors were on site within 24 hours of the spill and their results establish a baseline worst case scenario. These data should assist marine biologists, pathologists, toxicologists, environmentatlists, engineers, and coastal planners in assessing the nature of this disaster.

The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins

The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins
Author: Hal Whitehead
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2015
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0226895319

Drawing on their own research as well as scientific literature including evolutionary biology, animal behavior, ecology, anthropology, psychology and neuroscience, two cetacean biologists submerge themselves in the unique environment in which whales and dolphins live. --Publisher's description.

Orca

Orca
Author: Lynda Mapes
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2021
Genre: Animal intelligence
ISBN: 9781680513264

The history--and future--of one of the sea's greatest mammals

Primates and Cetaceans

Primates and Cetaceans
Author: Juichi Yamagiwa
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2013-11-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 4431545239

In this book, the editors present a view of the socioecology of primates and cetaceans in a comparative perspective to elucidate the social evolution of highly intellectual mammals in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Despite obvious differences in morphology and eco-physiology, there are many cases of comparable, sometimes strikingly similar patterns of sociobehavioral complexity. A number of long-term field studies have accumulated a substantial amount of data on the life history of various taxa, foraging ecology, social and sexual relationships, demography, and various patterns of behavior: from dynamic fission–fusion to long-term stable societies; from male-bonded to bisexually bonded to matrilineal groups. Primatologists and cetologists have come together to provide four evolutionary themes: (1) social complexity and behavioral plasticity, (2) life history strategies and social evolution, (3) the interface between behavior, demography, and conservation, and (4) selected topics in comparative behavior. These comparisons of taxa that are evolutionarily distant but live in comparable complex sociocognitive environments boost our appreciation of their sophisticated mammalian societies and can advance our understanding of the ecological factors that have shaped their social evolution. This knowledge also facilitates a better understanding of the day-to-day challenges these animals face in the human-dominated world and may improve the capacity and effectiveness of our conservation efforts.

Beneath the Surface

Beneath the Surface
Author: John Hargrove
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2015-03-24
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1466878819

*Now a New York Times Best Seller* Over the course of two decades, John Hargrove worked with 20 different whales on two continents and at two of SeaWorld's U.S. facilities. For Hargrove, becoming an orca trainer fulfilled a childhood dream. However, as his experience with the whales deepened, Hargrove came to doubt that their needs could ever be met in captivity. When two fellow trainers were killed by orcas in marine parks, Hargrove decided that SeaWorld's wildly popular programs were both detrimental to the whales and ultimately unsafe for trainers. After leaving SeaWorld, Hargrove became one of the stars of the controversial documentary Blackfish. The outcry over the treatment of SeaWorld's orca has now expanded beyond the outlines sketched by the award-winning documentary, with Hargrove contributing his expertise to an advocacy movement that is convincing both federal and state governments to act. In Beneath the Surface, Hargrove paints a compelling portrait of these highly intelligent and social creatures, including his favorite whales Takara and her mother Kasatka, two of the most dominant orcas in SeaWorld. And he includes vibrant descriptions of the lives of orcas in the wild, contrasting their freedom in the ocean with their lives in SeaWorld. Hargrove's journey is one that humanity has just begun to take-toward the realization that the relationship between the human and animal worlds must be radically rethought.

Into Great Silence

Into Great Silence
Author: Eva Saulitis
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2013-01-15
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0807014362

Science entwines with matters of the human heart as a whale researcher chronicles the lives of an endangered family of orcas 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.

Transients

Transients
Author: John K.B. Ford
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0774844329

This book focuses on transient killer whales. Enigmatic and elusive, these mammal-hunting whales are difficult animals to study. They travel in small groups, often moving unpredictably, which makes them less conspicuous than the larger resident pods. For these and other reasons, our understanding of the life history and ecology of transient killer whales has lagged behind that of residents. Transients contains the latest information on the natural history of transient killer whales, including their feeding habits, social lives, and distribution patterns. The catalogue section contains photographs of and notes on over 200 individual whales. Numerous sidebars contain interesting observations on encounters with transients as well as information on how and where to best watch them.

Marine Mammals of the Pacific Northwest

Marine Mammals of the Pacific Northwest
Author: Pieter Folkens
Publisher:
Total Pages: 10
Release: 2016-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781621261803

This FoldingGuide™ includes 35 marine mammals commonly seen on the Pacific Northwest coast from Oregon up through British Columbia. Includes Baleen, Sperm, and Beaked whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, otters and more.