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Whale hunting is an ancient practice; it's a dark tribute to humankind, perhaps, that tiny figures in flimsy boats were able to overcome these huge, fabulously powerful beings. Whaling as commerce-or at least on a larger scale than that demanded by immediate needs-may go back as far as seven or eight hundred years, though it reached a frenzied peak in the 18th and 19th centuries. It wasn't until the 1920s that questions began to arise about the morality, practicality, and necessity of what had long since become wholesale destruction. By the time whaling finally began to diminish in the 1960s and 1970s, many species were on the verge of extinction.
The sad intertwining of man and whale is one of the stories told in Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises . More inspiring are scientists' tales of researching the life cycles and habits of cetaceans (aquatic mammals). The book is, in the admirable National Geographic tradition, a lavish, fact-filled guide, one that can serve as a reference source as well as a casual treat for the eyes. It's filled with spectacular photos (another National Geographic tradition): sharp, sometimes breathtaking, rare views of these elusive sea dwellers. The text, free of jargon and technical trivia, may still be too complex for the younger set, though no challenge for adolescent readers. But just leafing through the pages without reading the text (a habit undoubtedly familiar to many a National Geographic reader) is itself an education.
Kids, who relate to animals only through a media filter and may be apt to think all whales are either humpbacks, baby belugas, or lovable orcas, are in for a surprise. The diversity is astonishing-and heartening, in view of the devastation wrought in recent history by whaling, deadly fishnets, and pollution.
Paul Shackman is a children's editor and reviewer from New York City.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.