ACS Monterey Bay Program for November/December 2009

Discussion of selected readings from WATCHING GIANTS: The Secret Lives of Whales

Thursday, December 3, 2009 Note that the meeting date is the first Thursday in December instead of the last Thursday in November, due to Thanksgiving. 7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores) Speaker: Elin Kelsey, Ph. D, Conservation Scientist and Author

Cetaceans, whales, dolphins and porpoises have always had an exceptional ability to inspire people in many different ways. They inspire art in many forms, they can be archetypal cultural symbols and always seem to evoke wonderment and joy when we see them in person.

In the past, the cetaceans were also hunted and humans became the most efficient hunters, so good in fact, that many species of cetaceans were driven to near extinction and some to actual extinction by human activities like commercial whaling.

And yet we now hear about Gray whales hugging pongas with people on board in San Ignacio Lagoon and about so many other encounters between cetaceans and humans where the frailty of a human in the marine environment is understood, respected and safeguarded by the cetaceans involved. Have the cetaceans forgotten about the hunting, have they forgiven the hunters…?

There must be something to this connection between humans and cetaceans….

Our speaker this month has explored this connection and shares her insights into the world of cetaceans in her book WATCHING GIANTS: The Secret Lives of Whales. This book is "... 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'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."*

This book is so much more than one person's viewpoint. It is based on interviews with more than 20 of the world's leading cetacean scientists. In revealing cutting edge ideas about whale culture, this book looks at subjects such as whale motherhood and whale menopause. The more we learn about these and other cetacean behaviors and relationships, the easier it is to see the connections between whales and people and how we all live our daily lives.

Please join us for what promises to be an engaging and insightful peek into the world of whales and the world of marine conservation itself.

* from the overleaf of WATCHING GIANTS.

Related web pages:

• Elin Kelsey & Company
  
  
• WATCHING WHALES: The Secret Lives of Whales
  

• Back to list of previous meetings.