Whales and Dolphins Cognition, Culture, Conservation and Human Perceptions

About this book

Whales and dolphins are icons for the conservation movement. They are the most conspicuous ambassadors for entire marine ecosystems and possibly even for the biosphere as a whole. Concurrent with our realisation of impending threats to their environment is a growing scientific understanding of the social and cognitive complexity of many of these species. This book brings together experts in the relevant diverse fields of cetacean research, to provide authoritative descriptions of our current knowledge of the complex behaviour and social organization of whales and dolphins. The authors consider this new information in the context of how different human cultures from around the world view cetaceans and their protection, including attitudes to whaling. They show how new information on issues such as cetacean intelligence, culture and the ability to suffer, warrants a significant shift in global perceptions of this group of animals and how these changes might be facilitated to improve conservation and welfare approaches.

Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Contributors

1. Why Whales, Why Now? Philippa Brakes

Part 1: Whales in Human Cultures
2. Impressions: Whales and Human Relationships in Myth, Tradition, and Law. Stuart Harrop
3. Whales of the Pacific Viliamu Iese and Cara Miller
4. The Journey Towards Whale Conservation in Latin America. Miguel Iniguez
5. Whales and the USA. Naomi A. Rose, Patricia A. Forkan, Kitty Block, Bernard Unti and E.C.M. Parsons
6. Whales in the Balance: To Touch or To Kill? A View of Caribbean Attitudes towards Whales. Nathalie Ward
7. The British and the Whales. Mark Peter Simmonds
8. Whales in Norway. Siri Martinsen
9. Of Whales, Whaling and Whale Watching in Japan: a Conversation. Jun Morikawa and Erich Hoyt
10. A Contemporary View of the International Whaling Commission. Richard Cowan

Part 2: The Nature of Whales and Dolphins
11. The Nature of Whales and Dolphins. Liz Slooten
12. Brain Structure and Intelligence in Cetaceans. Lori Marino
13. Communication. Paul Spong
14. Lessons from Dolphins. Toni Frohoff
15. Highly Interactive Behaviour of Inquisitive Dwarf Minke Whales. Alastair Birtles and Arnold Mangott
16. The Cultures of Whales and Dolphins. Hal Whitehead

Part 3: New Insights; New Challenges
17. Whales and Dolphins on a Rapidly Changing Planet. Mark Peter Simmonds and Philippa Brakes
18. From Conservation to Protection: Charting a New Conservation Ethic for Cetaceans. Philippa Brakes and Claire Bass
19. What is it Like to be a Dolphin? Thomas I. White
20. Thinking Whales and Dolphins. Philippa Brakes and Mark Peter Simmonds

Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Philippa Brakes is a marine biologist, specialising in marine mammal welfare and the ethical issues associated with our interactions with cetaceans and their environments. She has served as an expert on cetacean welfare issues and whaling policy with the New Zealand Government delegation to the International Whaling Commission, as well as serving as an informal adviser to other Government and non-Government delegations; as a lecturer in Zoological Conservation Management; as Marine Advisor to the RSCPA; and as the Curator of a British Zoological Gardens.

Mark Peter Simmonds is an environmental scientist specialising in the problems facing marine mammals in the 21st century. He is currently the International Director of Science at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.