Watching Giants: The Secret Lives of Whales - Hardcover

Kelsey, Elin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520249763 ISBN 13: 9780520249769

Publisher: University of California Press, 2008

Synopsis

Personal, anecdotal, and highly engaging, Watching Giants opens a window on a world that seems quite like our own, yet is so different that understanding it pushes the very limits of our senses. Elin Kelsey's colorful first-person account, drawing from her rich, often humorous, everyday experiences as a mother, a woman, and a scientist, takes us to the incredibly productive waters of the Gulf of California and beyond, to oceans around the world. Kelsey brings us along as she talks to leading cetacean researchers and marine ecologists about their intriguing discoveries. We encounter humpback whales that build nets from bubbles, gain a disturbing maternal perspective on the dolphin-tuna issue, uncover intimate details about whale sex, and contemplate the meaning of the complex social networks that exist in the seas. What emerges alongside these fascinating snapshots of whale culture is a dizzying sense of the tremendous speed with which we are changing the oceans' ecosystems―through overfishing, noise pollution, even real estate development. Watching Giants introduces a world of immense interconnectivity and beauty―one that is now facing imminent peril.

About this title

About the Author

Elin Kelsey is the author of Saving Sea Otters, Finding Out about Whales, Strange New Species, and other books. She consults for environmental organizations including the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the World Conservation Union (IUCN). She is a faculty member in the School of Environment and Sustainability at Royal Roads University in Canada.

From the Back Cover

"In Watching Giants: The Secret Lives of Whales, Elin Kelsey provides an in depth look into one of the world's most magnificent creatures. I'm sure these stories will amaze and inspire you as they did me. A joy to read."―Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder, The Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace

"Watching Giants is a wonderful book about animals whose complex social relationships and deep emotional lives are difficult to observe and even more difficult to understand. I know for certain that after reading this book, others will learn as much about whales and their underwater environment as I did from traveling with Elin Kelsey."―Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, Animals Matter, and Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals

"Prepare to be immersed in a different world. Like sitting down to a long dinner with a delightful and erudite friend who is about to tell you everything you need to know about the ocean, this absorbing book will let you see the ocean and its creatures in a way that you never imagined possible."―Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals

"Watching Giants reads like dispatches from the frontiers of marine science, covering everything from homosexuality in dolphins to whale intelligence, culture, and conservation with extraordinary insight. Superbly written and highly recommended."―Erich Hoyt, Senior Fellow, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, and author of Creatures of the Deep

From the Inside Flap

"In Watching Giants: The Secret Lives of Whales, Elin Kelsey provides an in depth look into one of the world's most magnificent creatures. I'm sure these stories will amaze and inspire you as they did me. A joy to read."—Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder, The Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace

"Watching Giants is a wonderful book about animals whose complex social relationships and deep emotional lives are difficult to observe and even more difficult to understand. I know for certain that after reading this book, others will learn as much about whales and their underwater environment as I did from traveling with Elin Kelsey."—Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, Animals Matter, and Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals

"Prepare to be immersed in a different world. Like sitting down to a long dinner with a delightful and erudite friend who is about to tell you everything you need to know about the ocean, this absorbing book will let you see the ocean and its creatures in a way that you never imagined possible."—Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals

"Watching Giants reads like dispatches from the frontiers of marine science, covering everything from homosexuality in dolphins to whale intelligence, culture, and conservation with extraordinary insight. Superbly written and highly recommended."—Erich Hoyt, Senior Fellow, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, and author of Creatures of the Deep

Reviews

Starred Review. Kelsey, a scientist and author (Saving Sea Otters), meditates in 20 linked essays on the resident and visiting cetaceans-including whales, dolphins and orcas-of the Gulf of California. To convey what's known and suspected about the underwater mammalian lifestyle, Kelsey interviews dozens of contemporary ocean scientists-Exequiel Ezcurra, Bruce Mate, Fred Sharpe, husband-and-wife team Hal Whitehead and Linda Weilgart-and places their research in context alongside data on African elephant herds, antelope and wildebeest feeding strategies, the behaviors of predators and (especially) the dynamics of her own family (mom to two young daughters, Kelsey's first chapter is titled "Extreme Motherhood"). Focusing on social relationships and culture, Kelsey finds research (including submarine observations of sea-floor whale carcasses) that reveals some critical and previously unsuspected roles. Brilliant at pursuing seemingly unrelated trails back down the blowhole, Kelsey illuminates the "humanity" of whales, and the human threat to them; for instance, she explains why canned tuna is never really "dolphin safe" (motorized boats used to herd dolphins away from tuna cause sonic chaos, separating mothers from pups with often fatal results). Kelsey's cogent, compassionate work makes clear the sophistication and importance of whale communities, and how current efforts to save them may not be enough. 30 color illus.
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Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520249763
• ISBN 13: 9780520249769
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216