Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook738 pages10 hours
The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins
By Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In the songs and bubble feeding of humpback whales; in young killer whales learning to knock a seal from an ice floe in the same way their mother does; and in the use of sea sponges by the dolphins of Shark Bay, Australia, to protect their beaks while foraging for fish, we find clear examples of the transmission of information among cetaceans. Just as human cultures pass on languages and turns of phrase, tastes in food (and in how it is acquired), and modes of dress, could whales and dolphins have developed a culture of their very own?
Unequivocally: yes. In The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins, cetacean biologists Hal Whitehead, who has spent much of his life on the ocean trying to understand whales, and Luke Rendell, whose research focuses on the evolution of social learning, open an astounding porthole onto the fascinating culture beneath the waves. As Whitehead and Rendell show, cetacean culture and its transmission are shaped by a blend of adaptations, innate sociality, and the unique environment in which whales and dolphins live: a watery world in which a hundred-and-fifty-ton blue whale can move with utter grace, and where the vertical expanse is as vital, and almost as vast, as the horizontal.
Drawing on their own research as well as a scientific literature as immense as the sea—including evolutionary biology, animal behavior, ecology, anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience—Whitehead and Rendell dive into realms both humbling and enlightening as they seek to define what cetacean culture is, why it exists, and what it means for the future of whales and dolphins. And, ultimately, what it means for our future, as well.
Unequivocally: yes. In The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins, cetacean biologists Hal Whitehead, who has spent much of his life on the ocean trying to understand whales, and Luke Rendell, whose research focuses on the evolution of social learning, open an astounding porthole onto the fascinating culture beneath the waves. As Whitehead and Rendell show, cetacean culture and its transmission are shaped by a blend of adaptations, innate sociality, and the unique environment in which whales and dolphins live: a watery world in which a hundred-and-fifty-ton blue whale can move with utter grace, and where the vertical expanse is as vital, and almost as vast, as the horizontal.
Drawing on their own research as well as a scientific literature as immense as the sea—including evolutionary biology, animal behavior, ecology, anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience—Whitehead and Rendell dive into realms both humbling and enlightening as they seek to define what cetacean culture is, why it exists, and what it means for the future of whales and dolphins. And, ultimately, what it means for our future, as well.
Unavailable
Read more from Hal Whitehead
The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnalyzing Animal Societies: Quantitative Methods for Vertebrate Social Analysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins
Related ebooks
Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans' Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Is Blue Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Extreme Life of the Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orca: The Whale Called Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Walking Sideways: The Remarkable World of Crabs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astonishing Animals: Extraordinary Creatures and the Fantastic Worlds They Inhabit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Marine World: A Natural History of Ocean Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecrets of the Seas: A Journey into the Heart of the Oceans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShark: In peril in the sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life on Earth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Return to the Sea: The Life and Evolutionary Times of Marine Mammals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOctopus, Squid & Cuttlefish: A Visual, Scientific Guide to the Oceans’ Most Advanced Invertebrates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Consider the Eel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extinction: Evolution and the End of Man Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jellyfish: A Natural History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Super Species: The Creatures That Will Dominate the Planet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Oceans: A Deep History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life in the Dark: Illuminating Biodiversity in the Shadowy Haunts of Planet Earth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret Life of Sharks: A Leading Marine Biologist Reveals the Mysteries o Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dolphin Diaries: My 25 Years with Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5War of the Whales: A True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dolphin Confidential: Confessions of a Field Biologist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Communicating with Orcas: The Whales' Perspective Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eye of the Shoal: A Fishwatcher's Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Science & Mathematics For You
The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Systems Thinker: Essential Thinking Skills For Solving Problems, Managing Chaos, Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Activate Your Brain: How Understanding Your Brain Can Improve Your Work - and Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Letter to Liberals: Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Science of Monsters: The Origins of the Creatures We Love to Fear Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Free Will Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychology of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Crack In Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Gov't Told Me: And the Better Future Coming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential--and Endangered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/52084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
2 ratings0 reviews