Product Description

For beginners and established enthusiasts alike the Dorling Kindersley Handbook of Whales Dolphins and Porpoises explains where in the world to look for cetaceans how to find them how to tell one species from another and how to interpret their different forms of behaviour. A visual colour key at the front of the book aids immediate identification in the wild then guides you to the detailed species entry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233094 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

A useful field guide for the casual whale watcher.
A useful book to take whale-watching. As with most DK books, there are lots of excellent illustrations. There are comparison charts to help spot the differences between various dolphins and whales. The more common species have several pages summarising their natural history. The illustrations are all drawings, which is understandable given the difficulty of photographing these large animals in the sea.

I spotted this book on board a whale spotting book. It was well thumbed and had survived well in a damp atmosphere. Many of the cetaceans I will never see, but I enjoyed reading about them when the boat was steaming between whale watching locations. This was the book I bought on my return, to be ready for the next trip.

The Ultimate Cetacean Field Guide!
This book clearly deserves more than five stars for the great joy it will make available to you in the future by encouraging you to do more cetacean watching.

One of my pleasures is planning and taking trips to the various whale, dolphin, and porpoise rich areas in the world. When there, I spend as much time as possible on the water enjoying the views. I was particularly delighted to see that this book opens the doors to locales that I did not know about. As a result, I now have three times as many places to visit as I thought I did. Having seen the unusual species that I have missed, I now see the world much differently. That's a great gift to receive from a field guide.

Most people are unaware of the fascinating and beautiful mammal life in the oceans and rivers (yes, some dolphins live in rivers) around them. Although I live near one of the world's best cetacean watching areas, I would estimate that fewer than five percent of the people I meet have ever gone to observe the wonderful sights that are just a few minutes offshore. This guide can help change all that.

With a heightened sense of our aquatic co-species, I think that all people will have more respect for them and interest in preserving their habitats and populations.

Many people have a chance to go boating on the ocean, and see something that interests them. What is it? How should they approach it? I hope that all ocean-going boaters will buy a copy of this book to address those questions.

This is a beautiful book to hold and behold. The drawings are luscious in their subtlety of color and shape.

As a way to identify cetaceans, I cannot imagine a handbook that could be any better. The book is filled with dozens of clues for each type from length, shape, coloration, presence of typical parasites, behavior, breathing patterns, and other physical characteristics (like the shape of the teeth or baleen, blowholes, tails, heads, etc.). With so many observational points to consider, it would be very unusual to make a mistake. So the casual cetacean watcher can quickly be able to perform like an expert.

After you have finished enjoying this wonderful book, I suggest that you plan your next trip to watch cetaceans. If possible, I suggest going to some location that you have never been to before. Even if formal party boats are not available there, you can go out in the least expensive way and rely on your handbook to guide you into a better understanding of what you are seeing.

Appreciate the natural grandeur and beauty of the cetaceans . . . always!

Information, Information, Information
Any person who purchases a coffee table book of this size should expect to pay a fair price for the product. In return for that payment, they have every right to expect a fully detailed account of the Whale and it's smaller cousins. With this product, that is exactly what they get.

This book has it all - and a lot more besides. The book commences with the evolution of the Whale, different kinds of Whales, Baleen Whales, Toothed Whales and their distribution and ecology. It's a great start - where even the expert will learn something. More importantly, the graphics are outstanding, the colour photographs are top notch and everything is written is a style which will appeal to expert and amateur alike.

Maintaining those same standards, the next section deals with anatomy, adaptation to the aquatic environment, senses, reproduction, behaviour and intelligence. Finally, in this most excellently crafted work, we find; Whales in art and literature, history of Whaling, Whales and Dolphins in captivity, human contact and strandings. Even the Appendices at the end make interesting reading.

For me, this book is likely to remain my preferred reference source on the subject and I can do no more than congratulate all those involved with the production of an excellent work.

Probably the only book on Whales most people will ever need.

NM