Whale Books

Posted by citizenpalaeo@reddit | whales | View on Reddit | 32 comments

Hey gang,

My current hyper-fixation is on cetaceans, specifically mysticeti and odontoceti, so I want the most relevant and accurate whale book suggestions so I can read up. Ideally if there’s a book that focuses on the aforementioned groups that would be great, but if there’s one that encompasses all whales, that would be even better.

Thanks!!

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Still_Selection8719@reddit

Haven’t read this yet, but picked up at a friend book swapping club. Seems like a good introductory book to get to know whales from a maybe more “romantic” point of view; respecting their place in the world, their evolutionary beauty, and cultural significance. Kinda like Dava Sobel’s astronomy book, ‘The Planets’, I’d imagine.

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schatzi-444@reddit

i have read, & it is so well written. i actually re-read parts of it often just as a pallet cleanser sometimes between books!

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ChubbyGreyCat@reddit

Those…those are the only two types of cetaceans ;)

The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins is pretty good!

I also enjoyed Of Orcas and Men, and Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World.

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Damnitwasagoodday@reddit

I’ll second Of Orcas and Men

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citizenpalaeo@reddit (OP)

Damn my brain forgot delphinidae were odontoceti

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Cc_the_husky@reddit

I have the Handbook of Whales Dolphins and Porpoises and I really like it! It has lots of information about region of different cetaceans and other general info :)

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nicxue97@reddit

If you want to learn about the biology of marine mammals, I'd recommend Marine Mammals: an evolutionary perspective, if you want a less text booky vibe, I'd go for spying on whales

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citizenpalaeo@reddit (OP)

Are you able to pls link the marine mammals book? I google searched the title but there wasn’t anything matching the title.

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nicxue97@reddit

Apologies, I misremembered the title, it's Marine mammal biology: an evolutionary approach. As a cetacean biologist, this book gave me a great foundation for my field.

https://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Marine-Mammal-Biology-A-Rus-Hoelzel-Edited-by/9780632052325?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=ps&utm_campaign=NZ&gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=17177494710&gbraid=0AAAAAD_dOfqyQyFFJBDid117KMtRTQxqb&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_b_QBhCSARIsAP6hR4csqLTP_gaEeyX83RHClZmmvZQAdsU2ew_20Czu-38wix3oRrgt0AQaAvm7EALw_wcB

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citizenpalaeo@reddit (OP)

That’s awesome. What are working on anything atm?

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nicxue97@reddit

I'm doing a PhD in dolphin nutritional stress. Specifically right now I'm writing a paper about cellular architecture in orca blubber and if we can use that to investigate nutritional status

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citizenpalaeo@reddit (OP)

That’s quite interesting. Thank you for sharing. Hopefully I see it published.

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nicxue97@reddit

Thanks 😄

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citizenpalaeo@reddit (OP)

Sorry, one more question. Might I ask are you directly comparing orcas in captivity with samples from wild orcas?

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nicxue97@reddit

No worries, ask as many as you like ☺️ I'm using blubber samples exclusively from stranded orcas in new Zealand. I believe we have the largest collection of stranded orca samples in the world at Massey University in Auckland

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citizenpalaeo@reddit (OP)

It is a bit bittersweet isn’t it? My heart aches for the orca lives that were lost, but it also gives you more material to work with to better understand them.

Would you consider comparing the blubber samples in your collection against the captive orcas to demonstrate nutritional deficiencies?

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nicxue97@reddit

Yeah when you see so many strandings and learn how many marine mammals are killed by industrial fishing, you sort of become jaded to single strandings.

As a scientist, I'd always be open to comparing data haha but it's not always that simple unfortunately. A lot of institutions, research groups or companies are very stingy with sharing data or access to their samples, or even collaboration, especially if they're a business (which is also how universities are run unfortunately). Nutritionally, the orcas in captivity might be doing better than wild counterparts 😅

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SurayaThrowaway12@reddit

Regarding guidebooks, there is the wonderful Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by Mark Carwardine.

If you want an entire encyclopedia for whales and other marine mammals, there is the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, which is considered the "holy grail" of marine mammal books.

For some books discussing scientific literature, Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales, though somewhat old at this point, is a great book to learn more about the complex social lives of whales and dolphins. The Evolution of Cetacean Societies: Uncovering the Social Complexity of Whales and Dolphins aims to be a worthy successor to the aforementioned book with much more up to date research, and it was recently published.

I can also also vouch for Dr. Hal Whitehead's and Dr. Luke Rendell's The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins; culture in cetaceans is a particularly interesting topic.

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ChubbyGreyCat@reddit

Ooh, I forgot about the We Are All Whalers book.

Very good look at issues facing North Atlantic Right Whales (not exclusively of course).

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citizenpalaeo@reddit (OP)

This list is so comprehensive, thank you so much!

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SurayaThrowaway12@reddit

Biologist Dr. Russell Fielding has also written the excellent book The Wake of the Whale: Hunter Societies in the Caribbean and North Atlantic on ongoing "subsistence" whaling communities in regions such as Saint Vincent and the Faroe Islands. He presented the following seminar about his work via Cetacean Sessions.

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